


































Class. JL - 7 . 
Book . -P-H (a. 


Copyright N°_ 

COPYRIGHT DEPGSm 


(JPG 














I 


4 














FAMOUS AMERICANS’ SERIES 


FOUR GREAT AMERICAN 
PRESIDENTS. N0.2 


Garfield, McKinley, Cleveland, 
Roosevelt 

A BOOK FOR AMERICAN READERS 


BY 

MISS FRANCES M. PERRY 

AUTHOR OF “ FOUR GREAT AMERICAN PIONEERS,” FOUR GREAT AMERICAN 
INVENTORS,” ETC., ETC. 

AND 

HENRY W. ELSON 

AUTHOR OF "SIDE LIGHTS ON AMERICAN HISTORY,” "A HISTORY 
OF THE UNITED i TATES,” ETC, F,7C, 






J. M. STRADLING & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 
NEW YORK 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 


DEC 26 1903 

Copyright Entry 

/ r -1 o 2 

CLASS a- XXc. No. 

7' r dS)PY B 

■ ■III — .. 


Copyrighted, 1903, by 
J. M. STRADLING & COMPANY. 



ELECTROTYPED BY 
WESTCOTT & THOMSON, PHILADA. 







CONTENTS 


THE STORY OF ONE OF OHIO’S GREATEST MEN, 
JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

PAGE 

I. The Log Cabin. 9 

II. Childhood Days. 16 

III. A Youthful Laborer. 21 

IV. A New Start. 27 

V. At College. 35 

VI. A Citizen. 40 

VII. The Outbreak of Civil War. 47 

VIII. A Soldier. 54 

IX. Further Military Service. 62 

X. A Congressman. 7 1 

XI. President of the United States. 7 8 














CONTENTS 


THE STORY OF ONE OF THE NATION’S GEATEST MEN, 
WIEEIAM McKINEEY. 

PAGE 

I. Childhood Days. 83 

II. A New Home at Poland. 90 

III. A Soldier. 96 

IV. A Commissioned Officer. 103 

V. A Civilian. in 

VI. A Congressman. 118 

VII. Governor of Ohio. 127 

VIII. Nomination and Election as President of the 

United States.134 

IX. President.139 

X. At Buffalo, N. Y., Assassination and Death . . 146 


4 













CONTENTS 


THE STORY OF A RESOLUTE PRESIDENT, 
GROVER CLEVELAND. 


PAGE 

I. Political Parties.155 

II. Cleveland’s Early Years.158 

III. In the New Home.162 

IV. A Sad Chapter. 167 

V. A Year in the Great City oe New York ... 170 

VI. Starting Out in the World. 172 

VII. In a Law Office.176 

VIII. At Last a Lawyer.179 

IX. Assistant District Attorney.185 

X. Sheriff of the County.189 

XI. A Very Heroic Mayor.193 

XII. Vetoes and Triumphs.197 

XIII. Governor of New York State.200 

XIV. The Presidential Election of 1884.205 

XV. The White House.210 

XVI. A White House Wedding.. . 214 

XVII. The Next Election.216 

XVIII. The Second Term.219 


5 





















CONTENTS 


THE STORY OF A GREAT AND FEARLESS 
PRESIDENT, THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 

PAGE 

I. Early Influences . ..229 

II. Study and Recreation.234 

III. In Politics.241 

IV. Ranch Life.251 

V. The Wilderness Hunter.264 

VI. Important Offices.272 

VII. Preparation for War.282 

VIII. In Cuba.291 

IX. The President.305 


6 













A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 


GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD 











































The Story of One of Ohio’s Greatest Men. 

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


i. 

THE LOG-CABIN. 

“ Listen, Eliza, he says ‘ Plutarch.’ Say it 
again, James,” commanded the big farmer, 
who, in well-brushed clothes, clean homespun 
shirt, and freshly oiled boots was trying to 
read Plutarch’s Lives and at the same time 
keep his young son out of mischief while the 
boy’s mother prepared the Sunday dinner. 

The blue-eyed child on his knee, pleased 
with the attention he was receiving, repeated 
the word with reasonable success several times. 
“ He’ll be a scholar some day,” said the man, 
fondly rubbing his hand over the yellow head, 
and looking expectantly toward his wife, who 
had paused in her work to catch each syllable 
of the big word. 

“Who knows?” she replied brightly, heap- 



10 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD . 

ing the glowing coals on the big Dutch oven 
as she spoke. “ He’ll have as good a chance 
as any of the boys hereabouts.” 

You might have wondered at the cheerful, 
confident ring in the woman’s voice could you 
have seen the large family, the small, partly 
cleared farm, the poor little one-room log- 
cabin, the home-made table, bed, and chairs, 
and the meager collection of books. 

But you would have understood, perhaps, 
had you noticed how neatly the books were 
arranged beside the candle-stick on the shelf, 
out of harm’s way; how orderly the room 
looked in spite of its motley furnishings; how 
well tilled were the cleared acres; and how 
strong and industrious the older girls and boy. 

You would have been the more willing to 
agree that if thrift and industry count for any¬ 
thing, little James Garfield had a very fair 
chance of amounting to something. 

Had you seen the smoke curling from the 
chimney in the starlight of early winter morn¬ 
ings and the strong-armed father starting off to 
the frosty forest with his ax in hand, while from 
within doors sounded the whir of the busy 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


II 


spinning-wheel, you would have felt quite sure 
that he would amount to something. 

Poor this frontier family certainly was, and 
had to work hard from dawn until dark, but 
they did not count that a misfortune. They 
had not come into the wilderness with the idea 
that they could get rich without work. 

They did not belong to the class of pioneers 
who came West for adventure or because they 
thought it easier to live by hunting than by 
farming; who thought powder and whisky 
more important in their outfit than ax and 
plow. 

They were among the sturdy settlers from 
New England and eastern New York who, in 
the early part of the nineteenth century, came 
to the Western Reserve, not to escape hard 
labor or the restraints of civilization, but be¬ 
cause they felt sure that in the West their hard 
labor would be rewarded with the best fruits 
of civilization. 

The wildness of the country was not an at¬ 
traction to them. They were eager to see the 
trees felled, the fertile fields cultivated, and 
houses, churches, and schools built. 


12 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

Abram Garfield had come West when he 
was a young man twenty-one years old, with 
his half-brother, Amos Boynton, as a contrac¬ 
tor in the construction of the Ohio canal. The 
brothers had married sisters, the daughters of 
a thrifty pioneer who had formerly lived at 
their old home in eastern New York. 

After several years of faithful industry and 
careful management the brothers had saved a 
little money. With this they bought small 
farms side by side in the uncleared forest. 

There, about sixteen miles southeast of 
Cleveland, two and a half miles from any 
wagon road, they felled the trees, and with the 
logs built rough cabins. In the winter of 1830 
they brought their wives and children in ox¬ 
carts over the deep snow of January to the 
homes that they proudly called their own. 

Though these cabins were poor and dreary, 
—if anything, poorer and rougher than thou¬ 
sands of other log-cabins on the frontier,— 
with uneven floors, low ceilings, unplastered 
wall, small windows and great boulder fire¬ 
places, one of them was destined to be more 
famous than any pretentious board-house the 


3 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. I 

region boasted, for in it, on the nineteenth day 
of November, 1831, James A. Garfield was 
born. 

For a time the Garfield family prospered: 
more acres were cleared; the fence around the 
farm was being pushed to completion when 
time could be spared from the fields; the 
smoke-house was built; the barn for the oxen 
and cows was well begun; fruit trees were 
planted; and crops were flourishing. 

But one day late in July a fire started in the 
dry brush near the farm and spread so rapidly 
that it threatened to burn fence and buildings 
and damage the crops. 

Abram Garfield worked like a hero, throw¬ 
ing up trenches of fresh earth to protect the 
buildings in the path of the fire, and so saved 
his property. You may believe he had to 
work rapidly, and with this violent exertion 
in a hot July sun he was almost overcome by 
the heat. 

When all was safe, he threw himself down to 
enjoy the breeze that was blowing from the lake. 
He took a heavy cold, was seized with a severe 
pain in his throat and chest, which grew rap- 


14 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

idly worse in spite of all that could be done 
for him. Three days later he died. 

It was a hopeless day for Eliza Garfield 
when she buried her good husband in the 
corner of the wheat-field and came back to the 
cabin with her poor fatherless children. Every¬ 
thing had changed for her. Things that 
seemed easy a few days ago looked impos¬ 
sibly hard now. 

The clearing that had been advancing so 
rapidly; the fences and buildings that had been 
progressing with such encouraging speed, now 
seemed so far from finished! The boys and 
girls she had thought so large and strong now 
seemed so little and helpless! 

How could she take care of her four chil¬ 
dren and do all the farm work ? The meager 
savings of years had been spent in' purchasing 
the land and equipping the farm. Some things 
were not yet paid for. The brave little woman 
could not see her way very clearly, but she was 
resolved on the end: she would keep her chil¬ 
dren together in. the home that had been so 
dear to their father. 

In spite of the difficulties she must face her 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


15 


courage was great. She told herself that her 
muscles were like iron; that she and ten-year- 
old Tom could together do a man’s work. 
And, indeed, if pluck and good-will would have 
sufficed, they could have done the work of ten. 

But Mrs. Garfield soon found that she used 
up her strength at the heavy outdoor work 
without accomplishing much. She sold part 
of her farm, and with the money she received 
for it, paid all debts. Even the smaller farm, 
however, required more strength than she and 
Tom had to spend upon it. She saw that she 
must hire the heavy work done. 

She had no money to pay a farm-hand, but 
in those days, in that region, service was as 
good as cash. Mrs. Garfield could sew rapidly 
and well. She would sew for the women of the 
neighborhood, and in payment their husbands 
would gladly do farm-work of any kind. 

In this way the cabin and the fragment of 
the farm were kept. This was no great wealth, 
to be sure, but to the woman and the children 
who knew what effort and sacrifice it had cost 
the log-cabin home was through life a precious 
place. 


16 James abeam garfield. 

II. 

CHILDHOOD DAYS. 

In the hard days that followed Abram Gar¬ 
field’s death Thomas Garfield was probably his 
mother’s greatest comfort, but certainly the two- 
year-old James was the greatest source of hap¬ 
piness in the little cabin. The healthy, gleeful 
youngster saw no reason for sadness and worry. 
His prattle and fun made his older brother and 
his sisters merry, and the sight of her children’s 
happiness filled the mother’s heart with cheer. 

She laughed with them, and for the time for¬ 
got her trouble and anxiety. The girls, when 
potato-peeling, dish-washing, and garden-weed¬ 
ing were over, found it no task to amuse their 
little brother. Thomas looked forward to a 
frolic with James as the reward of his day’s 
work. 

When the little fellow was old enough to go 
to school on bright days, his sister carried him 
all the way to the little log school-house on her 
back. This was her own idea, and she trudged 
happily along, although the boy was heavy, the 
road rough, and her own shoes not nearly so 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 17 

good as the stout new ones the village shoe¬ 
maker had made for her little brother. 

When on bright spring days, after the long, 
long morning on the stiff benches, the children 
scampered off to the woods to eat their 
luncheon, James always had the plumpest 
doughnut and the reddest apple. On bleak 
winter days, if he complained of cold, the girls 
would gladly bundle him in their own shawls. 

But the brother and sisters had no notion of 
spoiling James, and when he was stubborn or 
selfish, they were quick enough to show their 
disapproval and threaten to tell his mother or 
his “Uncle Amos.” So in spite of much pet¬ 
ting, James grew up to be a generous, good- 
natured boy. 

His home was no place for idlers, and one 
of the first lessons he learned was to take his 
part in the work of life. Almost before he 
could talk he had learned to pick up the threads 
his mother scattered in her sewing. 

As he grew older and stronger he was sent 
to the spring for water and to the shed for fire¬ 
wood. He learned from watching his mother, 
his sisters, his brothers, his uncle, all the people 


18 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

he knew, in fact, to regard industry as a matter 
of course. 

While James was still a small child a school- 
house was built on the corner of Mrs. Garfield’s 
farm, so near that her children could go to 
school in all seasons, in all sorts of weather, 
without much worry as to whether their shoes 
were water-tight or their coats warm. At school 
James learned to spell, to read, and to write; 
he also learned some arithmetic and some 
geography. 

He was not fond of study, but tried hard 
to master his arithmetic and spelling lessons 
in a short time, that he might have more 
time for reading. He read eagerly almost any 
book he could find, but he liked best stories of 
adventure, of Indians, sailors and pirates. 

On Sunday these wild tales were put aside. 
On that day Mrs. Garfield expected her children 
to spend their spare hours reading the Bible. 
James had heard her tell the Bible stories ever 
since he could remember, and now he liked to 
read them for himself. As he grew older he 
became interested in questions of religious 
belief. 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 19 

His uncle was a devoted member of the Dis¬ 
ciples’ Church, and James liked to hear him 
argue with his neighbors about repentance and 
faith and the teachings of the Church. He got 
many ideas in this way, which he was not slow 
to use in argument with his schoolmates. 

Temperance and slavery were also questions 
much discussed by the earnest-minded farmers 
of northern Ohio, and James Garfield began 
early to think about these serious questions'. 
He had the greatest confidence in his Uncle 
Amos’ views, whether on politics or religious 
matters, and promptly adopted them as his own. 

He studied his Bible eagerly to find there 
verses to support his belief on any subject. 
Then he sought out some one who thought dif¬ 
ferently, and tried, by dint of some reasoning 
and much quotation, to prove his point. 

His Uncle Amos organized a debating club 
for the boys of the village, which held its meet¬ 
ings in the school-house. James, naturally a 
ready speaker, was one of the most active mem¬ 
bers of this club. 

He was so quick and clever that he was a 
match for boys much older than himself and 


20 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD . 


usually came off victorious. This pleased his 
mother and his uncle very much. They even 
wondered if, with the right training, he might 
not some day be a teacher or even a preacher. 

James, however, was far from having any such 
ideals for himself. He was still very much a 
boy, with one definite, practical aim and one 
glorious * but far-off ambition. The glorious 
ideal was to be a sailor, and so to see the world 
and lead a life of action and excitement like the 
pirate heroes in the story-books. 

The practical aim was to earn some money— 
a dollar, perhaps even five dollars—and so help 
toward building a new house for his mother. 

The little farm had been made, by careful 
management, a success. It was in good con¬ 
dition, and the family was not in want. Yet 
while many of the neighbors had moved from 
their log-cabins into neat frame-houses, the 
Garfield family still lived in the log-cabin. 

Thomas was almost a man now, and he 
thought and planned about building a four- 
room cottage for his mother. James had heard 
the talk of the new house and was impatient to 
do something to make it a reality. 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


21 


III. 

A YOUTHFUL LABORER. 

In Orange, Ohio, where James Garfield lived, 
no one wanted a boy to carry newspapers; no 
one wanted a boy to mow his lawn; no one 
wanted a messenger boy, an elevator boy, or a 
boy to carry bundles. Most of the work that 
paid was man’s work and required a man’s 
strength. 

But where there is a will there is a way, and 
James, interested in carpentry, probably because 
of the new house, presented himself at the vil¬ 
lage carpenter’s shop and asked for work. See¬ 
ing the boy’s eagerness the carpenter good- 
naturedly pointed to a pile of rough boards and 
offered him a cent a piece for planing them. 

The dollar James earned at this work cost 
many days’ hard labor, but a dollar seemed a 
large sum to the small boy; and when he 
handed it to his mother, he felt so well paid 
and so well satisfied that he resolved to be a 
carpenter. His family thought this a very sen¬ 
sible plan. But as carpentry work was scarce, 


22 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


he gave up that idea for the time and tried to 
find some farm-work to do. 

As it was harvest-time and all hands were 
needed, he succeeded in finding employment, 
although he was again obliged to be content 
with small rewards. He proved to be strong 
for his age and faithful, working untiringly until 
he had finished a task, and the farmers who 
hired him once were willing to do so again. 

When he was about thirteen James learned 
that a boy was wanted at the potash works. 
He resolved to take the position, although he 
knew the work would be unpleasant. His 
duties were various: he had to shovel wood- 
ashes into the great pots and keep the fires 
burning and the salts boiling. 

The work was dirty; the fumes from the 
boiling vats were almost insufferable, but the 
strong-willed boy endured it for months, work¬ 
ing early and late, and winning high praise 
from his employer. Even after he had mas¬ 
tered all the difficulties of the business so that 
it no longer interested him he kept at work. 

In the mean time his brother had been very 
successful in completing a contract and felt that 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


23 


he was ready to begin building his mother’s 
house. It was thought wise for James to come 
home and learn the carpenter’s trade from the 
man hired to build the new house. 

The youth took up the new work with his 
customary zeal. The personal interest he took 
in the new house made the trade seem well 
worth learning. The sweet smell of the pine 
boards, the ringing sound of the hammers, the 
clean, smooth feel of the planed boards, were 
pleasant to him after his work in the smoke 
and ashes at the ashery. It was a satisfaction 
to build so securely and get so rapidly so 
great a thing as a house. 

James learned this trade fairly well. But 
there was little demand in Orange for youthful 
carpenters, and he was obliged to seek farm- 
work again. He was now so strong that he 
could wield an ax or a scythe almost as well as 
a man. 

An uncle living near Cleveland offered him 
twenty-five dollars for cutting 100 cords of 
wood. Poor as the pay was he accepted the 
offer. As he worked by the lake his old dreams 
of being a sailor awoke. He felt restless and 


24 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

dissatisfied. His brain was too active, his mind 
too curious, for him to be satisfied with mere 
hand work. He wanted to get away from 
familiar people and places. 

He would go to sea. Of course, his mother 
would be distressed to have him go, but some 
day he would come back with a knowledge of 
the world and a fortune, perhaps, and she would 
be proud and glad that he had not wasted his 
life on an Ohio farm. Thinking such thoughts as 
these he resolved to begin his new life at once. 

He couldn’t reach the ocean, but why not 
begin on Lake Erie? After he had acquired 
a little experience on a lake boat he could 
readily find a position on an ocean vessel. 

Accordingly, as soon as he had cut his hun¬ 
dred cords of wood, he went to the harbor to 
try his fortune. He was surprised at the rude, 
abusive language of the half-drunk captain to 
whom he applied, and so thoroughly disgusted 
with his reception that he was glad to leave the 
boat. One experience of the sort was enough; 
for the time he gave up the idea of becoming a 
sailor. 

Still, the longing to see something of the 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


25 


world was so strong in the boy’s heart that he 
could not make up his mind to go back to his 
native place. His uncle owned a canabboat 
that ran on the Ohio canal. This boat was 
ready to start on its trip south. A canal would 
be tame, indeed, after dreams of the ocean, but 
it would be a change from Orange, Ohio. 

Even on so poor a craft the boy found it 
difficult to get a place. The captain could 
offer him only the humble post of mule-driver 
at ten dollars a month. Nothing daunted, the 
restless youth accepted this position for a term 
of three months. His duty was simply to 
drive along the tow-path the mules that towed 
the canal-boat. At first there was a certain 
charm in tramping along through strange 
country from morning until evening, in sun¬ 
shine and in rain, beside the silvery strip of 
water stretching through green meadows. 

There was a pleasurable excitement in the 
stops at the crowded locks, where he must look 
sharply to get his turn, lest some burly fellow 
run his boat through ahead of him. There 
was a novelty about the little towns along the 
way. 


26 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


As James slept and ate on the canal-boat he 
had plenty of opportunity to get acquainted 
with the boatmen. They, too, were quite dif¬ 
ferent from the farmers’ boys he had always 
known. Their free and easy ways, their rough 
talk and unfamiliar phrases, perhaps reminded 
the boy at first of his pirate heroes. But very 
soon the novelty wore off. 

The men he found less interesting than his 
Orange friends: they seemed coarse and stu¬ 
pid; their jokes grew stale and flat; the towns 
seemed all alike and all uninteresting. 

The tramp along the bank became monoto¬ 
nous and wearisome. The world seen from 
the tow-path was scarcely so good as the world 
seen from Orange. 

When the three months were nearly over 
the young man was promoted to the position of 
steersman. What he learned through this ex¬ 
perience was one day to be of great use to him. 

As steersman young Garfield was more 
closely associated with the boatmen than he 
had been before. He was not very popular 
with them, and one big fellow picked a quarrel 
with him. But the boy was stronger than the 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


2 7 


man supposed. The arm that had cut ioo 
cords of wood was too much for the bully and 
sent him sprawling, to the amusement of all 
who witnessed the encounter. After that the 
new steersman was treated with respect. 

His life was not an easy or a pleasant one, 
however, and he felt miserable. The truth is, 
he was homesick and ill. He had never 
known what it was to be ill; he had not 
counted on that, but he had fallen a victim to 
malaria. One day he was burning with fever; 
the next, shaking with a bad chill. 

When he reached Cleveland he left the canal- 
boat and tramped off toward the little farm¬ 
house at Orange that now seemed to his tired 
body a more distant goal, and to his homesick 
heart a more glorious one, than ever in his 
brightest dreams had seemed the thought of a 
sailor’s life. 


IV. 

A NEW START. 

For months the young man lay ill and help¬ 
less. Those were gloomy days. The future 



28 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


looked blank to him. The dream of a sea¬ 
faring life had been rudely broken. For a 
time there seemed nothing to take its place. 
He had found satisfaction in using his strength 
—in proving his power with ax and scythe. 
But was that all there was to look forward to 
in life? Years full of such work looked long 
and colorless. 

The world of ideas, of learning, that his 
unlettered mother and his Uncle Amos had 
vaguely praised, that the scholarly men he 
met in Cleveland had so earnestly recom¬ 
mended, was closed to him. He was a great 
fellow seventeen years old. Could he begin 
at this late day to study? Could he go into 
classes with little boys ? The years seemed 
short and few when he thought of all there 
was to learn. 

But as his strength returned, indecision gave 
place to determination. James Garfield re¬ 
solved at any cost to make something out of 
his life. He told himself he was a pretty poor 
sort of a man if he couldn’t conquer false pride 
and go into classes with children if need be. 
He knew well enough that he would not stay 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


2 9 


there long. Had he not often proved himself 
a better thinker than the schoolmaster? 

Fortunately, the schoolmaster who came to 
Orange that year was an unusually good one. 
He was himself a student at Geauga Seminary, 
and was teaching for a few months to pay his 
expenses there. He recognized James Gar¬ 
field as a young man of fine intellect and 
noble character. The young men had many 
long walks together. The schoolmaster spoke 
of his work with so much enthusiasm and 
pleasure that he made it seem worth a great 
amount of sacrifice. 

He assured the country boy that poverty 
was not an insurmountable difficulty—there 
were many poor boys at the seminary who 
were working their way as he was. 

As for preparation, that could be arranged. 
Many of the students at the seminary had had 
very indifferent training and were doing ele¬ 
mentary work. Before the beginning of the 
next term, with a little help, James could pre¬ 
pare himself for the work there. Thus en¬ 
couraged, that young man studied with a will. 
Every day he went to the school-house back 


30 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


of his mother’s farm to recite with the advanced 
arithmetic class; every day he pored over his 
grammar and his history until he began to 
enjoy the work. 

His mother and his uncle were pleased with 
the idea of his studying. He might some day 
indeed be a teacher or a preacher, they said 
gravely. Uncle Amos decided to send his two 
sons to the seminary with their cousin James. 
Since the building of the new house no ques¬ 
tion had so much interested and occupied the 
two families. 

There were the boys’ clothes to be put in 
order. Then the furnishings for their room 
must be provided for. The furnishings for 
their college room did not include easy chairs, 
carved desks, embroidered couch pillows, deco¬ 
rated screens, and fine pictures, you may be 
sure. But, nevertheless, the furnishing of that 
room was not a simple matter, for it must serve 
the three boys as sleeping-room, study, dining¬ 
room, and kitchen. Instead of a fancy chafing 
dish, these boys had an iron frying-pan in 
which to cook bacon, an iron pot for boiling 
potatoes, and a baking-pan for corn cake. 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


31 


A few plates and cups, three wooden-handled 
knives and forks, and pewter spoons made the 
most essential part of their dining-room outfit. 
Nor was it enough that they should take pots 
and pans and bacon and meal and molasses. 
They must take with them also the means to 
get more meal and bacon when the present 
supply was exhausted; for, although their 
school was only twelve miles from home, the 
young men had no idea of depending on their 
parents for support. 

So a place must be found in the new quar¬ 
ters for ax and tool-chest in order that they 
might be ready for whatever work offered. 

The three young men found an inexpensive 
room, provided with two beds, a stove, and a 
board table that must be used for all purposes, 
from washing dishes to writing compositions. 
They had a merry time getting their belongings 
stowed away and making their plans for house¬ 
keeping. They had not been used to luxury, 
and they did not think of complaining about 
their cramped, comfortless quarters. 

When they were in high spirits, their hard¬ 
ships furnished them with subjects for jest and 


32 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


laughter. When they were serious, they thought 
more about their opportunities than their limi¬ 
tations. They had come for work, and they 
found plenty of that. 

They were among crude but earnest country 
boys and girls, most of whom, like themselves, 
were struggling under many difficulties to secure 
an education. They felt at ease with these 
students and made many friends among them. 

James, although obliged to spend many hours 
a day at the carpenter’s bench to get money 
enough to contribute his share of the room-rent 
and food-supply, to keep himself in clothes, pay 
for his books, and meet his college bills, studied 
to such good purpose while at his books that 
he gained the reputation of being one of the 
most capable students at the seminary. 

During the winter term he left the seminary 
to teach the village school at Orange. This 
was a more swift, realization of his mother’s 
dreams than either of them had dared hope for. 
She was a proud woman when her James was 
made schoolmaster, and would have been satis¬ 
fied if that had been the end of his effort to make 
a place for himself among educated people. 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


33 


But James had begun to realize his intel¬ 
lectual power and the delight of learning. He 
was far from satisfied with such small achieve¬ 
ments. His experience as a teacher only made 
him more sure that mental work was more 
satisfying than physical. He was soon back at 
the seminary studying again. 

In two years he went from the seminary to 
Hiram College, a school scarcely deserving the 
name of college, perhaps, but one that did good 
service in the cause of education for the sons 
and daughters of the farmers of that region, 
who were working, not for degrees, but for 
knowledge. 

As James Garfield climbed the grassy, treeless 
slope toward the large sunny brick building 
on the summit of Hiram Hill, eager to secure 
the humblest position the school could offer, 
had he any idea that in a few short years he 
would have offered him the highest office it 
could bestow? The office he sought in 1851 
was that of school janitor. 

He succeeded in getting it, and at once 
began his double duties as student and janitor. 
As janitor, he opened and closed the building, 


34 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


rang the bell, swept the floors, and made the 
fires. As student, he learned Latin and Greek 
and French and German, geometry, literature, 
and history; managed debating and translat¬ 
ing clubs, led student prayer-meetings, and 
took an active part in literary societies. 

Hiram was just the place for a young man in 
his position. Many of the instructors had risen 
through just such efforts as he was making from 
just such circumstances as he had always known. 
They were not repelled by the uncouthness of 
his appearance and manner, but understood and 
appreciated the struggle he was entering upon 
and were eager to help him. 

Before long Garfield was able to give up 
manual labor as a means of support. He was 
made assistant instructor and allowed to teach 
elementary branches while he was himself a 
student in the higher courses. Nor was this 
all. In his childhood his fluency and readiness 
in making speeches had caused his mother and 
his uncle to say that he would make a good 
preacher. That same power of speech, together 
with his nobility of character, now made his 
instructors think that he was peculiarly fitted 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


35 


for the Christian ministry. The young man 
was not so sure of this himself. But he was 
serious and devout, and found it natural and 
easy to talk on religious subjects. 

As his Church did not require special train¬ 
ing for its ministers, he consented to preach 
occasionally. He succeeded so well that he was 
soon in demand in the little town and country 
churches that employed no regular preacher. 

Of all who listened to the sincere, fervent 
words of the young preacher, none was more 
deeply moved, none felt more sure that the 
ways of the Lord are “ true and righteous alto¬ 
gether,” than Mrs. Eliza Garfield. 


V. 

AT COLLEGE. 

But if his mothers ambitions for him were 
more than realized, James A. Garfield had not 
yet reached the goal he had set for himself. 
Unlike carpentering and farming and work on 
the canal, this work of studying grew more 
attractive to him the longer he kept at it. He 



36 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

was resolved to have more of it. He would 
go to college—to a regular eastern college. 

He could not hope to make his way there 
entirely without help, but his success at Hiram 
had aroused so much confidence in him that an 
uncle offered to loan him money to go to college 
on, and wait for payment until James had com¬ 
pleted his education and was earning money. 

The instructors at Hiram thought it would be 
well for him to go to Betheny, the college of 
his Church, but he decided otherwise. The 
grounds he gave for his decision show some¬ 
thing of the young man’s character. He wrote: 
“ After thinking it all over I have made up my 
mind to go to Williamstown, Mass. 

“ There are three reasons why I have decided 
not to go to Betheny: first, the course of study 
is not so extensive or thorough as in eastern 
colleges; second, Betheny leans too heavily 
toward slavery; third, I am the son of Disciple 
parents, am one myself, and have but little 
acquaintance with people of other views; and, 
having always lived in the West, I think it will 
make me more liberal, both in my religious and 
general views and sentiments, to go into a new 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


3 7 


circle where I shall be under new influences. 
These considerations led me to conclude to go 
to some New England college. I, therefore, 
wrote to the presidents of Brown University, 
Yale, and Williams, setting forth the amount 
of study I had done, and asking how long it 
would take to finish their course. 

“ Their answers are now before me. All tell 
me I can graduate in two years. They are all 
brief business notes, but President Hopkins 
concludes with this sentence: ‘ If you come 
here, we shall be glad to do what we can for 
you.’ Other things being so nearly equal, this 
sentence, which seems to be a kind of friendly 
grasp of the hand, has settled that question for 
me. I shall start for Williams next week.” 

Having carefully estimated his expenses and 
the possibilities of earning money in the East, 
Garfield accepted from his uncle a loan of five 
hundred dollars. He had a strong sense of 
responsibility and was reluctant to borrow even 
from his willing uncle. He was so scrupulous 
as to have his life insured so that in the event 
he should not live to pay the debt, his uncle 
would not lose because of his generosity. 


33 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


The young man was twenty-three years old 
when he started for Williams. The years he 
had spent at physical labor had given him a 
muscular frame and a strong constitution; the 
habit of overcoming sensitiveness to ridicule, 
of not caring for what others might say or think 
so long as he was sure he was right, his success 
in supporting himself and mastering difficul¬ 
ties, had made a man of this blue-eyed “ Ohio 
Giant.” 

But years of work had not taken the edge 
from his- eager curiosity to see the world, and 
it was with a thrill of happy anticipation that he 
turned his face toward New England, the land 
of learning. 

The long journey was full of interest for him, 
and when he reached the quaint little town 
among the mountains, met the sensible, manly 
students who were to be his comrades, when 
he felt the influence of that teacher and great 
man, Mark Hopkins, he felt that it was all 
better, far better, than he had hoped. 

Under the influence of the beautiful scenery, 
the friendliness of associates, the stimulus and 
encouragement of professors both cultivated 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


39 


and powerful, James A. Garfield’s whole nature, 
intellectual, social, and esthetic, expanded. He 
was very happy, and did in a masterly way 
whatever he turned his attention to. He had 
no idea of excelling in athletic sports or leading 
in college boys’ pranks, but at the same time 
he took an active interest in the lives and 
doings of the students, and was liked as well 
as respected by them. 

He commenced at once to write for the col¬ 
lege magazine. The following stanza from 
some verses he wrote in the autumn of 1854 
shows how much he was impressed by the won¬ 
derful scenery of the Berkshire Hills: 

“Old Autumn, thou art here ! Upon the earth 
And in the heavens the signs of death are hung ; 

For o’er earth’s brown breast stalks pale decay, 

And ’mong the lowering clouds the wild winds wail, 

And, sighing sadly, shout the solemn dirge 
O’er summer’s fairest flowers, all faded now. 

The winter god, descending from the skies, 

Has searched the mountain-tops, and decked their brows 
With glittering frosty crowns, and breathed his breath 
Among the trumpet pines, that herald forth 
His coming.” 

During vacation he secured a country school 
and was thus able to complete his two years at 


40 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


college without making another appeal to the 
generosity of his uncle. 

After two successful, happy years Garfield 
graduated from Williams College. His work 
had not been such as to attract marked atten¬ 
tion from his fellow-students. It had been 
even, firm, strong—not the kind that wins 
plaudits from boys, but the kind that inspires 
the confidence of men. 


VI. 

A CITIZEN. 

In 1856 college graduates were not so com¬ 
mon in Ohio as they are to-day, and a degree 
from such a college as Williams entitled a 
young man to high respect from his neighbors. 
When Mr. Garfield graduated, therefore, he was 
not perplexed to find employment. 

Several churches invited him to be their 
minister. But the appeal from the school 
where he had received so much help and in¬ 
spiration was irresistible. He accepted an 
appointment as instructor in classical lan¬ 
guages at Hiram College. In this position 



JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 41 

he exerted so remarkable an influence over 
the students and showed so much capability 
not only in teaching, but in suggesting im¬ 
provements in methods and management, that 
all began to look upon him as the man who 
belonged at the head of the institution. 

The next year he was urged to return as 
principal. In this position his duties were 
multiplied. He still kept his classes in Greek 
and Latin, and in addition had full charge of 
the executive work of the school. Besides the 
office of principal necessitated much religious 
work. It was the principal’s duty to take 
charge of the daily chapel exercises, the prayer¬ 
meeting, and to preach on Sunday. 

Mr. Garfield was an accurate and an enthusi¬ 
astic teacher. He made the dead languages 
and ancient peoples live again for his students. 
He inspired the young men and women in his 
classes with so much love for their work that 
they were glad to put upon it the painstaking 
effort he demanded. 

On Sunday he preached sermons that, while 
scholarly, were full of feeling and sympathy, 
that were suited to the special needs of that 


42 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


class of young people assembled at Hiram 
College—sermons that went straight home to 
his hearers and influenced them in their daily 
thoughts and actions. 

But this professional service was not enough 
for the generous, earnest man to give to his 
students. He who had so recently been in 
their place and knew so well what they needed 
wanted to open for them more doors to learn¬ 
ing, to give them more individual help. 

Several times during the week he delivered 
lectures on subjects of general interest, which 
kept his students in touch with the literary, 
artistic, philosophical, scientific, or political 
questions that were claiming the attention of 
thinking people. 

He interested himself in the students’ 
method of study. He tried to train them to 
close observation. In the midst of a recita¬ 
tion he would startle an inattentive boy with 
some such question as: “ How many chimneys 
are there on this building?” or “How many 
windows are there in the physics lecture- 
room?” or “What company published the 
text-book in your hand?” He advised them 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


43 


never to accept without question the opinion 
of one author, but to consult numerous author¬ 
ities and form their own decisions. He was a 
strict schoolmaster, and required prompt and 
absolute obedience. 

Off the platform, outside of the school-room, 
he made himself one of the boys. He played 
ball with them and shared in all their sports. 
They say he was exceedingly awkward, but 
where strength and quickness counted more 
than dexterity, an almost matchless opponent. 

If he found a student lacking in self-esteem, 
he took pains to treat him in a way to increase 
his self-respect. He had a way of asking the 
shy boys their opinion on college matters or 
questions of the day as if what they thought 
counted and might influence him. 

It was not an unusual sight to see the youth¬ 
ful principal walking across the campus with 
his arm thrown affectionately over the shoul¬ 
ders of some student. The boy who acted 
as janitor always received especial attention 
from him. 

Although Mr. Garfield gave so much atten¬ 
tion to the school and the students, he had 


44 JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 

time left for personal and public interests. It 
was while he was teaching at Hiram that, 
having paid his debt to his uncle, he found 
himself free to marry Miss Lucretia Rudolph, 
a young lady he had known first as a student 
in the old days of “Geauga Seminary,” and 
later at Hiram. 

She was a well-educated woman, with a kind 
heart and gracious manners, and soon made 
herself almost as dear to the students as the 
principal himself was. Mr. and Mrs. Garfield 
lived simply, but their home was a mecca for 
forlorn and homesick students. 

It was part of Mr. Garfield’s theory that 
every true teacher must be himself a student. 
He did not look upon graduation from college 
as the end of a man’s education. Being much 
interested in public affairs, he believed he 
ought to know something about law. 

Accordingly he borrowed a few law-books 
and began to study. It was not his nature to 
do things by halves, and before long he had 
mapped out for himself a thorough course in 
law study, and was hard at work preparing to 
be admitted to the bar. No one except his 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 45 

wife and one or two friends were aware that 
he was studying law. 

Mr. Garfield was known to be a eood 

o 

preacher and lecturer, and he was frequently 
called upon to make public addresses. Now, 
the Church needed a champion to defend it 
against the attack of a persuasive but specious 
reasoner, and the church people called upon 
Garfield to answer the man. 

Again the cause of anti-slavery was assailed, 
and its friends besought the principal of Hiram 
to meet in open debate the seemingly invin¬ 
cible advocate of squatter sovereignty and the 
extension of slavery. Mr. Garfield came off so 
manifestly victorious in these contests that he 
won the confidence of all who heard his 
speeches. 

The great question of the hour, slavery, was 
one that a man of Garfield’s character, brought 
up as he had been, could not be indifferent to. 
Public affairs made a strong appeal to him. 

He allowed himself to be nominated for the 
Ohio Senate. In 1859 he was elected, without 
effort on his part, to represent his district in 
the State Senate. He made speeches and 


4 6 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD . 


served on committees there without giving up 
his work at Hiram. 

Some have wondered how Mr. Garfield had 
time for so much work. In the first place he 
was strong physically and not exhausted by 
close study and little sleep. Then he had 
gained from the hard experience of his youth 
the power of concentration. 

He could turn his mind quickly from one 
task to another, give full attention to the mat¬ 
ter in hand, and then dismiss it from thought 
until he wanted it again. He also understood 
how to turn one thing to account in many ways. 

When he was working up a public lecture he 
found much that could be used for his college 
lectures and for his sermons. On the other 
hand, his everyday experiences at the college 
furnished him with material to enliven his 
more scholarly address. 

All this helped, but he could scarcely have 
accomplished what he did had he not had, in 
addition, the peculiar faculty that distinguished 
the leader—the faculty of making others work 
for him. When he was investigating a ques¬ 
tion, he put several people to work on the dif- 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


47 


ferent lines that he wished to trace, directed 
their study, then sifted and organized in a mas¬ 
terly way the results of their research. 


VII. 

THE OUTBREAK OF CIVIL WAR. 

As a boy James A. Garfield had heard much 
discussion of the wrong and injustice of slav¬ 
ery. The people of the Western Reserve were 
anti-slavery. The name of Joshua R. Gid- 
dings, that apostle of freedom, was a household 
word in northern Ohio. 

When the time came for choosing his col¬ 
lege, Garfield had been influenced in his deci¬ 
sion by the attitude of the college toward 
slavery. He had been elected to his seat in 
the Ohio Senate as the anti-slavery candidate. 

Now that the national crisis was approaching 
there was no doubt what position James A. 
Garfield would take. In the exciting presi¬ 
dential campaign of i860 he had used his in¬ 
fluence for Abraham Lincoln. 

In January he declared from the floor of the 
Senate that he was unalterably opposed to any 



48 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


compromise with slavery. He took his stand 
with Senators Cox and Monroe in their oppo¬ 
sition to all concessions in favor of slavery on 
the part of the Ohio Republicans. 

As days passed the feeling in the South 
grew more bitter and the feeling in the North 
more anxious, but not less unyielding. In his 
inaugural address on the fourth of March 
Abraham Lincoln had said: 

“ In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-coun¬ 
trymen, and not in mine, is the momentous 
issue of civil war. The government will not 
assail you. You can have no conflict without 
being yourselves the aggressors. You have 
no oath registered in heaven to destroy the 
Government, while I shall have the most sol¬ 
emn one to preserve, protect, and defend it.” 

Daily the conviction among thinking men of 
the North became clear that the people of the 
South would assail the Government and that its 
loyal sons might be called upon to shed their 
blood in order to “preserve, protect, and de¬ 
fend it.” 

On the morning of the twelfth of April, 1861, 
Garfield sat in his seat in the Ohio Senate, shar- 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


49 


ing with all the sense of depression and anxiety. 
Suddenly the voice of a Senator who had just 
entered rang through the hall, “ Mr. President, 
the telegraph announces that the secessionists 
are bombarding Fort Sumter!” 

A breathless quiet followed these words. 
Then a shrill cry of ‘'Glory to God!” startled 
all. It was the shout of a woman who believed 
that by war and by war alone would the slaves 
be freed. The hush of dismay that had fallen 
upon all having been broken, a confusion of 
voices followed. 

It was useless to transact further business. 
The Senate adjourned for a few days, that the 
senators might visit their homes and see what 
were the wishes of their constituents. They 
soon assembled again at the State capital, 
bringing news that the people were ready to 
respond with enthusiasm to Lincoln’s proclama¬ 
tion and call for troops. 

Still there was some uncertainty with regard 
to the northern Democrats. Many of the party 
leaders affirmed that the party in the North was 
in sympathy with and would support the seces¬ 
sionists. The feeling of uncertainty on this 


50 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

point was set at rest in Columbus, Ohio, when, 
a few nights after the opening of hostilities, 
Stephen A. Douglas passed through the town. 
This man, who had been Abraham Lincoln’s 
opponent, was not only a strong party leader, 
but a man of such ability and influence that all 
were anxious to know where he stood in this 
matter. 

When it became known that he was to spend 
the night in Columbus, the people thronged the 
dimly lighted street in front of the hotel, call¬ 
ing eagerly for him to come to the window and 
speak to them. At last those standing nearest 
the building saw his form in the dark window. 

A hush spread over the crowd, and his strong, 
even, solemn voice sounded through the night, 
declaring that the insurrection must be crushed; 
the Union must live; President Lincoln must 
be supported in this terrible hour. When he 
finished, a witness records, there was no ap¬ 
plause ; it was rather as if all breathed a silent 
answer to the speaker’s words. 

The question, “ Is it my duty to enter the 
army?” came home to the most peace-loving 
citizen of Ohio. As they sat in their common 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


51 


sitting-room after an evening session of the 
Legislature, Senator Garfield and Senator Cox 
discussed the question as it applied to them¬ 
selves. There were reasons why Garfield should 
be reluctant to go to the war. There was the 
family tie—his wife and little child—how could 
he leave them, perhaps never to see them 
again ? 

Then who could take his place at Hiram 
College, when his work was progressing just 
as he liked to see it? Still he did not hesi¬ 
tate. He told his friend that he considered it 
his plain duty to give his services to the sup¬ 
port of freedom and the Union on the battle¬ 
field, and that as soon as he could break his con¬ 
nection with the college he would join the army. 

The call for volunteers had to be answered 
by the States. The responsibility of recruiting 
and organizing 10,000 men was a heavy one, 
and Governor Dennison, of Ohio, had his 
hands more than full. Garfield offered to aid 
him in any way, and gave valuable services in 
distributing supplies. It is not surprising, there¬ 
fore, that in July he received the following 
note: 


52 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

“ The State of Ohio Executive Department, 
“Columbus, July 27, 1861. 

“ Dear Sir : I am organizing some new regi¬ 
ments. Can you take a lieutenant-colonelcy? 
I am anxious you should do so. Reply by 
telegraph. Cox has entered Charleston and is 
doing nobly. I have sent him my congratula¬ 
tions. 

“ Yours truly, 

“W. Dennison.” 

If there is anything surprising in the matter, 
it is that the Governor did not insist on Garfield 
taking the first, rather than the second, place in 
command. Garfield replied that provided the 
colonel of the regiment should be a graduate 
of West Point he would accept the appointment, 
and was accordingly commissioned. 

At Hiram he called a meeting of citizens in 
one of the churches and made an address, so fer¬ 
vent and patriotic, that the most indifferent felt 
that their duty to their country was imperative. 

Though the college was closed for the summer 
vacation, Garfield’s students had come from far 
and near to hear him speak. When he had 
finished, sixty of them came forward and en- 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


53 


rolled their names for service in his regiment, 
the Forty-second Ohio. Others followed, and 
within a week the enlistment for his regiment 
was complete. 

Garfield went about his new work with his 
customary zeal and thoroughness. His fitness 
for the position was soon manifest, and he was 
made colonel of the regiment, to the great sat¬ 
isfaction of those who had enlisted. 

In those days Columbus was full of raw re¬ 
cruits, stalwart men from Ohio farms who were 
afire with patriotism and eager for battle. 
They had no regular uniform, but until they 
could be provided with the United States uni¬ 
form, wore what they pleased. A very popu¬ 
lar soldier’s outfit consisted of blue trousers, 
leather belt, Garibaldi shirt of red flannel, and 
a soft hat. 

In this picturesque costume squads of sol¬ 
diers marched through the streets to the tune 
of the drum, drilled on the green at the camp, 
or lounged about off duty. The sound of the 
bugle and drum came to be familiar indeed 
to the citizens of Columbus before the summer 
of 1861 was over. 


54 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


While the Forty-second Ohio waited at 
Camp Chase for orders, the colonel was not 
idle. He provided himself with works on 
military engineering and histories of military 
expeditions and studied them industriously. 

He instructed and drilled his men and even 
had a class each morning for the purpose of 
instructing his officers. It was not until De¬ 
cember that his regiment was ordered to the 
front. 


VIII. 

A SOLDIER. 

Colonel Garfield and his men welcomed 
the order that called them to the field. It had 
been hard to wait at Columbus and receive 
reports of Confederate victories and Union 
defeats, to hear of Bull Run and Ball’s Bluff, 
and to know that the enemy several thousand 
strong were pushing into Kentucky with the 
hope of controlling the resources of that border 
State for the Confederates. 

A brief interview in which the plan of cam¬ 
paign for moving across Kentucky into Ten- 



JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


55 


nessee and carrying the war into the enemy’s 
country was discussed showed General Buell 
that in Colonel Garfield he had found a man 
upon whom he could rely without hesitation 

He put the young and inexperienced officer 
in charge of the troops which were to advance 
against the Confederate forces in eastern Ken¬ 
tucky. Promptly on the seventeenth of De¬ 
cember Colonel Garfield received the following 
order: 

“ Headquarters Department of the Ohio, 

“Louisville, Kentucky, December 17, 1861. 

“ Sir : The brigade, organized under your 
command, is intended to operate against the 
rebel force threatening and, indeed, actually 
committing depredations in Kentucky, through 
the valley of the Big Sandy. 

“ The actual force of the enemy, from the 
best information I can gather, does not prob¬ 
ably exceed two thousand five hundred, though 
rumor places it as high as seven thousand. 
I can better ascertain the true state of the case 
when you get on the ground. 

“ You are apprised of the position of the 
troops under your command. Go first to 


56 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


Lexington or Paris, and place the Fortieth 
Ohio regiment in such position as will best 
give a moral support to the people in the 
counties on the route to Prestonburg and 
Piketon, and oppose any further advance of 
the enemy on that route. 

“ Then proceed with the least possible delay 
to the north of the Sandy, and move, with the 
force in that vicinity, up that river and drive 
the enemy back or cut him off. Having done 
that, Piketon will probably be in the best posi¬ 
tion for you to occupy to guard against future 
incursions. 

“ Artillery will be of little, if any, service to 
you in that country. If the enemy have 
any, it will encumber and weaken, rather than 
strengthen, them. 

“Your supplies must mainly be taken up 
the river, and it ought to be done as soon as 
possible, while navigation is open. Purchase 
what you can in the country through which 
you operate. 

“ Send your requisitions to these headquarters 
for funds and advance stores, and to the Quar¬ 
termaster at Cincinnati for other supplies. 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


57 


“ The conversation I have had with you will 
suggest more details than can be given here. 
Report frequently on all matters concerning 
your command. 

“ Very respectfully, 

“ Your obedient servant, 

“ D. C. Buell, 

“ Brigadier-General Commanding.” 

Colonel Garfield and his boys in blue found 
the miles they had to travel long and hard 
ones. The roads were no more than bridle 
paths, narrow and rough. The heavy, winter 
rains had begun, and the mud was deep. 
There were no bridges over the rushing, swol¬ 
len streams that wound again and again across 
their course. 

What with fording rivers and tramping 
through rain and mud the gallant new uni¬ 
forms looked as if they had seen weeks of ser¬ 
vice before the troops had been two days on 
the march. 

Provisions were scarce; a cold pelting rain 
made even a camp-fire a dismal, smoky affair. 
The fact that they were advancing into a wild 


58 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD . 


and unfamiliar country, poorly provided with 
supplies, against a foe outnumbering them 
three to one, made these unseasoned troops 
look upon the soldier’s life as a very serious 
business. 

Still, all had confidence in their leader and 
they struggled on without complaint, their de¬ 
termination and self-confidence increasing with 
every difficulty overcome. 

Garfield had expected to find the enemy at 
Paintville, but when he reached the town he 
found that Marshall, the Confederate comman¬ 
der, had retreated to Prestonburg, whether in 
flight or to fortify himself and make a stand 
was uncertain. 

But in either case the more promptly the 
Union forces acted, the greater would be their 
chance of success. Colonel Garfield accord¬ 
ingly advanced his forces in spite of severe 
storms of icy rain that crusted the men’s uni¬ 
forms and made the mountain paths slippery 
and dangerous. 

He found Marshall’s troops strongly sta¬ 
tioned on a hill near Middle Creek. In the 
skirmish that followed Colonel Garfield’s men 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 59 

did not lose their heads at their first smell of 
powder, but fought with calmness and fired 
with deliberation and effect. 

The untrained Confederates in firing down¬ 
hill did not aim low enough, and their cannon¬ 
balls and bullets whizzed harmlessly over the 
heads of Garfield’s troops. The Federal troops 
pressed slowly but surely up the hill, dealing 
death as they went, with their long-range rifles. 

Toward night the Confederates rallied on a 
hill for a final charge. But before they were 
ready to advance they saw some troops that 
Colonel Garfield had ordered from Paintville 
coming to reinforce the Union soldiers. So 
instead of charging, they retreated. 

The night was dark and stormy. No one 
could tell what the Confederate commander 
might intend until the lurid glare on the low 
clouds told the anxious “Yankees” that he 
was burning his provisions and camp equip¬ 
ment and preparing for flight. 

With trifling loss on his part Garfield had 
driven the Confederates out of eastern Ken¬ 
tucky and gained the first victory for the North. 

Victorious troops feel well repaid for much 


6o 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


hardship, but men cannot live on victory alone, 
and Garfield’s troops began to feel sore need 
of bacon and hard tack. The expected sup¬ 
plies were overdue, but there was no sign of 
them. 

The region was so poor that it could not be 
depended upon to feed an army. The country 
was flooded by the incessant rains and almost 
impassable. The outlook was alarming. 

Colonel Garfield decided to investigate for 
himself to find out what the trouble was. It 
was fortunate he did so. A less resolute man 
would scarcely have been successful. 

In all the course of the Big Sandy he found 
not a single steamer until he reached the vil¬ 
lage situated at the juncture of the Big Sandy 
with the Ohio. There he found a feeble craft 
tied to the shore. The captain was waiting for 
the flood to abate before he ventured up the 
river. 

When ordered by Colonel Garfield to start 
at once he refused, saying his boat could not 
live in such a surging flood. He said his boat 
could not make any headway against such a 
strong current. 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. ' 61 

But the man whom 3000 Confederates could 
not hold in check was not to be daunted by a 
steamboat captain, however determined the lat¬ 
ter might be. Exercising military authority, 
he ordered the unwilling captain and his crew 
aboard and himself took the place at the pilot 
wheel. 

He found steering his way through those 
angry waters, amidst whirling fragments of de¬ 
molished bridges, barns, and uprooted trees, a 
far different business from managing the wheel 
on a sluggish canal-boat, but his strength and 
nerve were equal to it 

Progress against the current was very slow, 
but he stood at his post day and night, and at 
last, with only a few slight accidents, reached 
his camp. He was welcomed by his hungry 
men with shouts of joy. They began to look 
upon their colonel as invincible. 

The service Colonel Garfield had rendered 
his country at Middle Creek was fully appre¬ 
ciated. He was promoted to the rank of Brig¬ 
adier-General. General Buell complimented 
and congratulated him and his men upon their 
success, and the young general’s glory was not 


62 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


confined to the army, for President Lincoln 
noted the name of James A. Garfield. The 
telegraph and the newspapers heralded his vic¬ 
tory to a grateful nation. 


IX. 

FURTHER MILITARY SERVICE. 

The battle of Middle Creek was followed by 
several victories for the Federal arms. The 
Confederates were driven out of Kentucky, 
and the Union soldiers had entered Tennessee. 
General Garfield was given command of the 
Twentieth Brigade and ordered to meet Gen¬ 
eral Buell at Columbia, Tennessee. 

He moved rapidly on to Shiloh, and was in 
time to take part in the close of the battle and 
the pursuit of the enemy. In the siege of 
Corinth his brigade did good service. 

While Garfield was stationed in the South 
an incident occurred which shows how immov¬ 
able the man who could obey orders so well 
was when commanded to do anything that was 
opposed to his principles. 

One day a fugitive slave sought protection 



JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


63 


in his camp. Those in pursuit of the slave, not 
finding Garfield in his tent, secured an order 
from his superior officer requesting him to 
search out and deliver the negro to his owners. 

General Garfield read the order slowly, then, 
taking his pen, he wrote across the back of it: 
“ I respectfully but positively decline to allow 
my command to search for or deliver up any 
fugitive slaves. I conceive that they are here 
for quite another purpose. The command is 
open, and no obstacles will be placed in the 
way of search.” 

General Garfield knew that in refusing to 
obey the command of a superior officer he ran 
the risk of being court-martialed or tried before 
a military court for insubordination, but fear of 
unpleasant results did not make him hesitate 
to do what he believed to be right. 

Courts-martial or military trials were quite 
common during the war, and the duty of acting 
in such courts fell upon General Garfield not 
infrequently. His knowledge of law and his 
excellent judgment won for him the commen¬ 
dation and warm admiration of all who were 
associated with him in these cases. 


6 4 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


But the constitution which could stand with¬ 
out hurt an unusual amount of physical or 
mental effort, could not stand the malarious 
southern summer, and in July General Garfield 
yielded to his old foe, fever and ague. He re¬ 
ceived a leave of absence and went to Hiram, 
where he was seriously ill for two months. 

Although compelled to withdraw for a time 
from the field of action, Garfield was not for¬ 
gotten. Without consulting him, his Ohio 
friends nominated him as candidate for Con¬ 
gress. 

As soon as he was well he was called to 
Washington to act in an important court- 
martial. He did his part so well that the pre¬ 
siding officer remarked, “ Garfield must be a 
great lawyer.” 

While in Washington he consulted the Presi¬ 
dent on a question that was giving him much 
trouble: Which would be the wiser, to run for 
Congress or to continue the military career so 
successfully begun ? President Lincoln told 
him there were plenty of good generals, but few 
able law-makers, and advised him to serve his 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 65 

country in that less glorious but not less neces¬ 
sary way. 

At this time General Garfield’s thoughts were 
turned for a little while from public demands 
and personal ambition to the poor little home 
in Hiram where his only child was dying. This 
was a heavy blow to the affectionate, home- 
loving man. 

But the push of public affairs did not allow 
him a long retirement. He was recalled from 
Hiram by an appointment to the position of 
chief of staff to General Rosecrans, who was 
then commanding the Army of the Cumber¬ 
land. 

It was in this position that General Garfield 
established his reputation for good generalship. 

General Garfield joined General Rosecrans 
at Murfreesboro, where he was watching the 
Confederate General Bragg, who, in an almost 
impregnable position, with headquarters at 
Shelbyville, held central Tennessee. 

For six months, from January until June, the 
Army of the Cumberland remained inactive 
while the Government urged its commander to 
move against the forces of General Bragg. 


66 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


The task of driving the Confederates from 
Tennessee would be a difficult one because of 
the enemy’s strength both in numbers and in 
position. Garfield was quite as opposed as 
General Rosecrans to rash action, but before 
June he believed the time was ripe for action. 

He had helped organize the force under Gen¬ 
eral Rosecrans, and knew its strength. He had 
established a secret service department which 
at that time was doubtless the best in the army, 
and was well informed concerning the strength 
of Bragg’s army. 

General Rosecrans was sufficiently influ¬ 
enced by the demand of the Government and 
the advice of his chief of staff to issue a paper 
asking the opinion of the seventeen generals 
under his command as to the advisability of 
immediate or early action. 

It was Garfield’s duty to sum up the con¬ 
tents of their replies and give the report to his 
commanding general. 

He did this in a paper that has been called 
the most masterly report of the kind made by 
an inferior officer to a superior during the civil 
war. After stating that all the generals were 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 67 

opposed to immediate action and all except 
three to early action and giving their reasons, 
he stated clearly his own reasons for favoring 
immediate action. 

General Rosecrans acted upon the advice of 
his chief of staff, following the plan of action 
mapped out by him. As a result, Bragg was 
driven out of Tennessee. 

Had the action not been delayed until a 
period of heavy rain, it would, in all probability, 
have been possible for the forces of Rosecrans 
to completely crush Bragg’s army. As it was, 
the gain to the Union cause was great, and the 
stars and stripes again floated over Tennessee. 
But the North had not heard the last of Gen¬ 
eral Bragg. 

The war department ordered General Rose¬ 
crans to cross the Tennessee and gain a foot¬ 
hold on the south side of the river. The un¬ 
dertaking was a hazardous one, and resulted in 
one of the bloodiest battles of the war. 

Garfield shared with General Thomas the 
honor of that day in saving the Union from 
defeat on the field of Chickamauga. He dis¬ 
played not only great generalship in planning 


68 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


the defense and ordering the movements of the 
troops, but magnificent personal courage as 
well. 

During the battle he stood at Rosecrans’ 
side, advising and giving orders. When the 
day was apparently lost and Rosecrans had re¬ 
treated to Chattanooga, he dashed off with a 
handful of followers on a perilous ride to join 
Thomas in his splendid fight against terrible 
odds. 

General Garfield gave the following account 
of the battle in a speech in Congress: 

“ It is not uncommon throughout the press 
of the country, and many people, to speak of 
that battle as a disaster to the army of the 
United States, and to treat it as a defeat. 

“ If that battle was a defeat, we may welcome 
a hundred such defeats. I should be glad if 
each of our armies would repeat Chickamauga. 
Twenty such would destroy the Confederate 
army and the Confederacy utterly and forever. 

“ What was that battle, terminating as it did 
a great campaign whose object was to drive the 
Confederate army beyond the Tennessee, and 
to obtain a foothold on the south bank of that 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


69 


river which should form the basis of future 
operations in the Gulf States ? We had never 
yet crossed that river except far below, in the 
neighborhood of Corinth. 

“ Chattanooga was a gateway of the Cumber¬ 
land Mountains, and until we crossed the river 
and held the gateway we could not commence 
operations in Georgia. 

“ The army was ordered to cross the river, to 
grasp and hold the key of the Cumberland 
Mountains. 

“ It did cross in the face of superior num¬ 
bers ; and after two days of fighting, more ter¬ 
rible, I believe, than any since this war began, 
the Army of the Cumberland hurled back, dis¬ 
couraged and repulsed, the combined power of 
three Confederate armies, gained the key to the 
Cumberland Mountains, gained Chattanooga, 
and held it against every assault. 

“ If there has been a more substantial suc¬ 
cess against overwhelming odds since the war 
began, I have not heard of it. We have had 
victories—God be thanked—all along the line, 
but in the history of this war I know of no such 
battle against such numbers—forty thousand 


70 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


against an army of not less by a man than 
seventy-five thousand. 

“ After the disaster to the right wing, in the 
last bloody afternoon of September 20, twenty- 
five thousand men of the Army of the Cumber¬ 
land stood and met seventy-five thousand 
hurled against them. 

“ And they stood in their bloody tracks, im¬ 
movable and victorious, when night threw its 
mantle around them. They had repelled the 
last assault of the rebel army.” 

Garfield, of course, says nothing of his own 
part in the battle. Others, however, did not 
ignore it. 

“To Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, 
chief of staff, I am especially indebted for the 
clear and ready manner in which he seized the 
points of action and movement, and expressed 
in orders the ideas of the general command¬ 
ing.” 

He received promotion to a Major-Generalcy, 
“ for gallant and meritorious services at the 
battle of Chickamauga.” 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


71 


X. 

A CONGRESSMAN. 

In December, 1864, a few weeks after the 
battle of Chickamauga and his promotion, Gen¬ 
eral Garfield resigned his commission to take 
the seat to which he had been elected in the 
House of Representatives. 

He was still a young man, only thirty-three 
years of age. Tall and broad-shouldered, with 
soldierly bearing, pleasant face, and courteous, 
dignified manner, he no longer seemed in any 
sense crude or boyish. His wide and varied 
experience in civil and military life had given 
him self-confidence and poise, as well as an 
unusual grasp of public affairs. 

He was at once recognized by his new asso¬ 
ciates as a man of ability and was placed on 
important committees. The committee work 
he did was so efficient as to give weight to his 
opinion on all subjects that he spoke upon. 

He was exceedingly well informed on public 
questions, and was an effective extemporaneous 
speaker. His frequent speeches were lofty in 


72 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


principle, but at the same time sane and prac¬ 
tical. 

He made his force of character felt in words. 
He did not use his oratorical power to excite 
men, but to steady and control them. 

There is perhaps no more remarkable instance • 
of his power to do this than that afforded by his 
brief speech on the night following the assassi¬ 
nation of President Lincoln. 

Joy over victory had suddenly been changed 
to grief and pain and anger. Ungoverned ex¬ 
citement prevailed ; distant and bitter indigna¬ 
tion toward all who had criticized or opposed 
President Lincoln was rife. 

A crowd of men waiting in Wall Street for 
news from Washington became a mob. A man 
who dared to speak slightingly of the dead 
President was struck down and beaten. A rude 
gallows was constructed. 

Prominent men addressed the excited crowd 
in vain attempts to quiet and disperse it. A 
telegram was received announcing that the 
Secretary of State would probably die also 
from the wounds received from his would-be 


assassin. 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


73 


The men in Wall Street grew wild, and a cry 
for vengeance arose. A tall man stepped out 
upon a second-story balcony with his arm raised 
toward heaven. Was there further news from 
Washington ? The mob listened to hear. A 
clear voice spoke: 

“ Fellow-citizens! clouds and darkness are 
round about Him! His pavilion is dark 
waters and thick clouds of the skies! Jus¬ 
tice and judgement are the establishment of 
His throne! Mercy and truth shall go before 
His face! Fellow-citizens! God reigns, and 
the Government at Washington still lives!” 

Garfield had not sought the men to control 
their fury, but he had made them wish to do 
so. He had reminded them that there was 
still control in heaven and on earth and in a 
strong man; that the prevailing lawlessness, 
the lack of control, was theirs only. 

Recalled to themselves, they felt rebuked 
and ashamed of their violence and went their 
way in quiet. 

General Garfield’s effectiveness as a speaker 
made him a powerful advocate. He was a 
successful lawyer, but he never devoted him- 


74 JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

self wholly to the practice of law, as his public 
duties would not allow it. For eighteen years 
his Ohio friends and neighbors kept him in the 
lower house in Congress. 

He had bought a good farm in Mentor, 
Ohio. There, in a comfortable country house, 
he was glad occasionally to withdraw from 
business and enjoy life with his family. 

He was not idle, even in that retreat, but 
read and studied several hours each day. The 
tasks at which he had worked in boyhood now 
became his recreations. To cut down a tree 
before breakfast was a pleasure in which he 
often indulged. 

His services to his congressional district were 
terminated by his unanimous election to the 
United States Senate. But before he had time 
to serve his State as a Senator the nation 
called him to a higher office. 

In 1880 General Garfield went as delegate 
to the Republican Convention that assembled 
at Chicago to nominate a candidate for the 
presidency. He as little as any one dreamed 
what would be the outcome of that convention. 

Interest in the sessions of the convention 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 


7 5 


was intense. While it lasted, 756 delegates 
each day took their places on the floor of the 
great hall, and 15,000 excited men and women 
filled the galleries. 

People all over the country eagerly read 
extra editions of the newspapers giving de¬ 
tailed accounts of its proceedings. 

There was much conflict among the mem¬ 
bers of the convention. There were three 
main factions: one favored the renomination 
of General Grant; another wished to see 
James G. Blaine, a Senator from Maine, the 
Republican candidate; while the third had 
determined upon John Sherman, Secretary of 
the Treasury. 

All the candidates’ names were presented 
by eloquent speakers who were applauded and 
cheered by their friends among the delegates 
and spectators. 

But the speech with which James A. Garfield 
introduced the name of John Sherman had a 
force that came not so much from the words 
he spoke, though they were fitting and elo¬ 
quent, as from the confidence inspired by the 
tone and manner and bearing of the man who 


y6 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


uttered them. His speech made a marked 
impression upon the convention. 

He had occasion several times to address 
the convention, and every time he rose the 
vast audience listened with expectancy and 
approval to what he said. 

The greater audience outside of the walls, 
by the aid of the telegraph and press, heard 
too, and approved and applauded. 

As time passed it seemed that the great con¬ 
vention came no nearer to a decision. Thirty- 
four ballots had been taken. Most of the votes 
had been for the three candidates named. 
There were a few scattering ones. 

Two votes were cast for James A. Garfield, 
of Ohio. Then the Wisconsin delegation voted 
for him. He rose after the announcement to 
request that his name should not be consid¬ 
ered, but the chairman overruled his objection 
as out of order, and silenced him. 

Another ballot was cast, which resulted in 
fifty votes for James A. Garfield. Still there 
was a majority for no one. Yet another ballot 
—the thirty-sixth! A majority at last—399 
votes for General Garfield. 


A LOG CABIN OF GARFIELD’S TIME. 


JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD 


77 







































































































78 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


The convention went wild with enthusiasm. 
The delegations of every State in the Union 
except Florida came forward to plant its stan¬ 
dard beside the standard of Ohio, while the 
band played “Rally Round the Flag,” and 
the spectators cheered madly. The telegraph 
spread the tidings over the country, and the 
people took up the cheer. 

This was a great moment for General Gar¬ 
field, a triumph he had not sought or expected. 
He did everything he possibly could to secure 
the nomination of John Sherman, and pro¬ 
tested against the use of his name to the con¬ 
vention when the Wisconsin delegation voted 
for him. 

Had Senator Hoar, the chairman of the con¬ 
vention, permitted him, he would have forbid¬ 
den any one to vote for him. The nomination, 
coming unsought and unexpected, was, how¬ 
ever, the crowning gratification of his life. 


XI. 

PRESIDENT. 

In the presidential campaign of 1880 Gen¬ 
eral Hancock and Mr. English were the Demo- 



JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 79 

cratic candidates opposed to Garfield and 
Arthur. Hancock and English carried the 
'‘solid South,” but, nevertheless, Garfield and 
Arthur were elected by a good majority. 

On the fourth of March, 1881, the new Presi¬ 
dent was inaugurated. His inaugural address 
gave general satisfaction, and he commenced 
his troubled and brief administration with the 
brightest promise. 

In spite of his wisdom and policy he found 
the task of making appointments a heavy one. 
His work was made especially hard by a seri¬ 
ous division in the Republican Party. 

President Garfield stood as usual on the side 
of principle and refused to consider public 
offices as spoils to be distributed among influ¬ 
ential party-leaders. 

He was sustained and cheered in his strug¬ 
gle by the conviction that the American people 
upheld him in what he did. 

After the adjournment of the Senate in June 
President Garfield planned to go to Long 
Branch, where his sick wife was staying, for 
a short visit with her. 

On the second of July, as he was waiting for 


8o 


JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 


his train in Washington railroad station, talk¬ 
ing with his Secretary of State and a few 
friends, an assassin shot him in the back. 

The dreadful deed, so unexpected and inex¬ 
plicable, carried dismay everywhere. Party 
lines were forgotten, and the whole people 
watched anxiously, while for months the 
wounded President lay hovering between life 
and death. 

And when at last, on the nineteenth day of 
September, death came, the nation mourned its 
great martyred President. 

There were no fierce anger and strife mixed 
with his grief His words, “God reigns, and 
the government at Washington still lives,” did 
not have to be repeated. Against whom did 
this President of peace need defense ? 

On the twenty-sixth of September, while 
bells tolled and men mourned, James A. Gar¬ 
field, the twentieth President of the United 
States, was buried at Lake View cemetery, in 
Cleveland, Ohio. 


THE STORY OF ONE OF THE NATION’S 
GREATEST MEN. 


WILLIAM M C KINLEY. 



william mckinley. 


. * . 


















The Story of One of the Nation’s Greatest 
Men. 

william McKinley. 


I. 

CHILDHOOD DAYS. 

In an address to the students of the Ohio 
State University William McKinley said: 

“The beginning of education is in the homes, 
and the great advantage of the American system 
of instruction is largely due to the elevating 
influence of the happy and prosperous homes 
of our people. 

“There is the foundation and a most impor¬ 
tant part of the education. If the home life be 
pure, sincere, and good, the child is usually 
well prepared to receive all the advantages and 
inspirations of more advanced education. 

“The American home, where honesty, sobri¬ 
ety, and truth preside and the simple every-day 
virtues are practised, is the nursery of true edu- 

83 



8 4 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


cation. Out of such homes usually come the 
men and women who make our citizenship pure 
and elevating and the State and nation strong 
and enduring.” 

Mr. McKinley spoke from his own experi¬ 
ence when he paid this high tribute to the aver¬ 
age American home. 

Like James A. Garfield, he was born in north¬ 
eastern Ohio, in the second quarter of the nine¬ 
teenth century. But though born only eleven 
years later and two counties farther east than 
Garfield, McKinley spent his childhood in con¬ 
ditions less primitive, less characteristic of 
frontier life, than those Garfield knew as a child. 
He was not born in a forest that must be cleared 
before corn could be planted. 

Civilization had not stood still in the West¬ 
ern Reserve during the years between 1831 and 

1843- 

Ohio had developed rapidly, and while there 
were still many uncleared bits of forest and 
many log-cabins within its borders, there were 
also numerous villages where comfortable 
dwelling-houses, schools, churches, shops, and 
factories testified to the growth of other indus- 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 85 

tries and interests than the cultivation of the 
soil. 

In one of the less important of these villages 
—Niles, on the Mahoning River—William 
McKinley was born on the twenty-ninth of 
January, 1843. 

As Niles is situated on the Ohio canal, it is 
quite possible that when James Garfield passed 
through the town in 1848 on his frequent trips 
from Cleveland to Brier Hill, the two future 
presidents, one a stalwart tow-boy of seventeen, 
the other a barefoot child of five, may have ex¬ 
changed greetings, all unconscious of the great 
and similar experiences that were to be theirs. 

At this time Niles was a small manufacturing 
town, its inhabitants, counting women and chil¬ 
dren, numbering only about three hundred. 

Most of the men were in some way occupied 
at the rolling-mill and nail factory, the forge 
and grist mill, or the blast furnace established 
there. 

The McKinleys were “old settlers” in the 
neighborhood. In the early part of the century, 
soon after Ohio took her place as the seven¬ 
teenth State in the Union, William McKinley’s 


86 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


grandfather had moved to Ohio and engaged 
in the iron business at New Lisbon. 

During McKinley’s boyhood his father was a 
thrifty foundry man in Niles. His home was 
in a two-story frame cottage, plainly furnished 
but comfortable and homelike. 

The house was sometimes noisy with the 
romping and laughter of children, but, on the 
whole, the large family of boys and girls was a 
quiet, well-behaved one. 

Mrs. McKinley, to whom the management of 
the children was left, was a sensible, business¬ 
like woman, who believed that children should 
be trained to prompt obedience and orderly 
habits. 

She had great faith in the Church and the 
school. On Sundays she saw to it that each 
member of her family went to church and Sun¬ 
day-school at the little Methodist meeting¬ 
house. On week days all had to be up in the 
morning in time for the workingman’s early 
breakfast. 

Then every one of the children, from the 
oldest to the lisping five-year-old boy, whatever 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 87 

the weather might be, whatever the inclination 
of the boys and girls, was sent to school. 

While in school they had to work, for their 
mother could see no excuse for a poor report 
at the end of the month. 

Though each child had some home tasks that 
he was required to attend to faithfully, Mrs. 
McKinley usually allowed the children a good 
deal of freedom when lessons were done. On 
hot days they could run off to the “old swim- 
min’ hole” under the black oak and splash to 
their hearts’ content. 

William McKinley was fond of games, and 
spun tops and played ball and marbles in their 
season with energy and skill, but he was most 
enthusiastic over kite-flying. 

On rainy Saturdays in spring Mrs. McKinley 
expected to find her well-scoured kitchen floor 
strewn with splinters of wood and bits of paper, 
her twine-box empty, her gravy bowl converted 
into a paste-pot, and her dish-towels torn into 
ribbons for kite-strings. 

When the rain was over, the boy could be 
seen running full speed against the wind, his 
bare feet twinkling over the damp earth, his 


88 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


anxiously determined face now and again 
turned back toward the huge kite as it rose on 
the breeze and sailed steadily up into the blue 
sky. 

While fond of out-door exercise, William 
McKinley was a quiet, sweet-natured, serious- 
minded boy, often choosing a book in prefer¬ 
ence to a ball, and the society of his sisters or 
some older person to that of the village boys. 

He liked to sit near his mother and read on 
the long winter evenings while she sewed. He 
was a good son, eager to please and to help 
wherever he could. 

Like most small boys, he had a lively curi¬ 
osity and liked to go about and see things. He 
was familiar with the country for miles around. 
One of his favorite holiday pastimes was to 
walk over to Warren, the county-seat, five 
miles from Niles. 

The public square, with its wooden rail¬ 
ing, to which were tied riding horses, farmers’ 
wagons, and buggies, the store windows, with 
their array of bright calico, queensware, ingrain 
carpet, and parlor furniture, the neat cottages 
with broad front porches, the hotel, the large 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


churches, and the court-house all seemed very 
imposing to the boy from Niles. 

Though Niles was a poor, unattractive little 
village, it had no slight effect on the life and 
interests of William McKinley. 

The farmers he saw lounging in the streets 
of Warren with trousers tucked into their 
cowhide boots and Jong bright whips in their 
hands seemed to him types of prosperity and 
importance; the country lads riding to town 
excited his admiration—what would he not 
give for one of those well-fed plow horses trot¬ 
ting along the highway with braided tails tied 
safely out of reach of the splashing mud! 

Like most children, he respected not a little 
the shop-keepers, who owned so much enticing 
merchandise. The emigrants, in their white- 
hooded wagons, roused his wonder as to 
whence they came and whither they were 
journeying. 

But none of these men made so strong an 
appeal to this boy, brought up within sight 
and sound of the blast furnace, as the grimy 
faced workers in fire and molten iron. 

To those early days at Niles may, then, be 


9 o 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


traced William McKinley’s interest in Ameri¬ 
can manufacturing. 


II. 

THE NEW HOME AT POLAND. 

While the children were small, the home at 
Niles was satisfactory to Mrs. McKinley. But 
as they began to develop into wide-awake 
young men and women she realized that the 
village school could not give them the educa¬ 
tion they ought to have, and that there was 
nothing in the life of the hard-working com¬ 
munity in which they lived to inspire them to 
study and self-improvement. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. McKinley saw that to 
stay at Niles would be to sacrifice their chil¬ 
dren’s welfare. But what was to be done ? 
Mr. McKinley’s business was established there, 
and at his time of life he could not leave it 
and start over again in a location which offered 
greater educational advantages for his children. 

The plan of sending the older boys and girls 
away to some school was discussed. There 



WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 9 I 

was a good academy in Poland, a pretty little 
town in the next county, that was said to be 
highly satisfactory. If the boys went there, 
it would be possible for them to come home 
to spend their Saturdays and Sundays quite 
frequently. 

This plan had, however, its objections. In 
the first place, the board of three or four mem¬ 
bers of the family added to the cost of books 
and the tuition would make the expense too 
heavy for a man of Mr. McKinleys means. 
Then, too, Mrs. McKinley did not like the 
idea of having her sons and daughters away 
from her own watchful care. 

After due consideration, therefore, it was de¬ 
cided that the home at Niles should be broken 
up and that Mrs. McKinley should move with 
the children to Poland. 

William McKinley was about eleven years 
old when he left Niles to live in the slate- 
colored cottage near the corner store in 
Poland. 

The quiet little town, with its old forest 
trees, its winding road, and neat, freshly 
painted white houses, with big door, yards 


92 • WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 

enclosed in trim picket fences, seemed to him 
a most attractive place. 

He entered the Poland Union Seminary at 
once. At first he felt rather strange and 
missed his old friends a good deal, but before 
long he made new ones and became deeply 
interested in his work. 

Under the able instructors he had at the 
academy he made rapid progress and won the 
commendation of fellow-students and teachers. 
He did well in mathematics, but was especially 
fond of languages and literature. His favorite 
writers at this period were Longfellow, Whit¬ 
tier, and Byron. He spent many happy hours 
reading and memorizing their poems. 

The debating club at the seminary gave him 
great pleasure. He took a prominent part in 
the meeting of the society, and was repeatedly 
elected to be its president. The practice in 
debate he gained in the club encouraged his 
natural love of argument. 

Under these new and broadening influences 
William soon outgrew many of the pastimes 
that had been pleasurable to him at Niles, 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


93 


but his early interest in manufacturing grew 
stronger as the years passed. 

He sought out the mills and factories in 
Poland, and became acquainted with employ¬ 
ers and workmen. He spent hours talking 
with them about their work or getting their 
ideas on political questions. 

He seemed to prefer the society of those 
who held views different from his own. There 
was nothing pert or disagreeable in his man¬ 
ner, and he did not irritate those with whom 
he disagreed. 

All liked to hear what this gray-eyed, seri¬ 
ous-faced boy had to say, and he was sure of a 
hearty welcome from them. 

While life was full of pleasure for the youth 
it was full of hard work, too. The expense of 
educating her family had proved to be greater 
than Mrs. McKinley had anticipated. 

But she was not the woman to retreat, and 
did not think of taking her children out of 
school to lessen her expenses. Instead, she 
moved into a larger house and took students 
to board. 

Though the two dollars a week the country 


94 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


boys paid for room and board would seem but 
small profit now, it was not an insignificant 
amount in those days when money was much 
more scarce than it is to-day, and a manager 
so careful as Mrs. McKinley turned every cent 
to the best account. With the help of her 
older daughters she did most of the housework 
for her large family and boarders. 

William McKinley did not let his mother 
and sisters assume the burden of helping to 
pay for his education without doing his share. 
He eagerly availed himself of every oppor¬ 
tunity to work, and is remembered by the old 
citizens of Poland as a very cheerful and 
obliging assistant in the post-office during 
one summer. 

When at the age of seventeen he finished 
the seminary course, he was so much inter¬ 
ested in study that he wished to go to college. 
He had done so well at the seminary that his 
mother and his instructors felt that it would 
be worth while for him to do so. 

Accordingly, in 1861, he entered Alleghany 
College, at Meadville, Pa. He did not stay 
there long, however, for circumstances soon 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


95 


made it necessary for him to stop studying 
for a time and teach in a district school near 
Poland. 

This was an important period in his life. He 
was beginning to do his own thinking, to make 
his own decisions, and to act upon them. 
There were many subjects, both religious and 
political, that caused him deep thought. 

When sixteen, he joined the Methodist 
Church, to which his mother belonged, and 
which he had been brought up to attend regu¬ 
larly. Having taken this step, he became a 
most loyal and devout observer of the rules of 
the Church. 

His thinking on political matters was not less 
direct and effective. Slavery was a theme he 
never tired of debating. Having read much 
upon it and having heard the pitiful stories of 
fugitive slaves, he was convinced of its injustice 
and horror and declared himself in favor of its 
abolition. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


III. 

A SOLDIER. 

The Southern States in arms, firing on the 
Union flag, was a condition of affairs which had 
long been declared possible. Yet there were few 
to whom the news that the Confederates were 
actually bombarding Fort Sumter did not come 
in the spring of 1861 with a shock of surprise. 

Lawyers at the desk, farmers at the plow, 
smiths at the forge, looked at one another aghast 
when they found themselves thus face to face 
with civil war in all its grim and terrible truth. 

The young schoolmaster at Poland went on 
with his work with his usual energy and care. 

The boy who said that seven plus nine equaled 
eighteen or that Philadelphia was the capital of 
Pennsylvania found his teacher as alert to his 
error as if accuracy in matters so small were 
really important when cannon were booming 
and drums were calling men to war. 

He could give his daily duty his undivided 
attention, for he was not perplexed by the ques¬ 
tion of the hour. He had made his decision 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 97 

without hesitation. War for the United States 
meant war for him. 

William McKinley was only seventeen years 
old at this time. Yet it was not the glamour 
and glory of war that appealed to the boyish 
element in his nature so much as the strong 
sense of duty that influenced him. He was 
naturally pacific and gentle, but he had a manly 
firmness that commanded respect. 

His father and mother had always found him 
an obedient and considerate son, but they real¬ 
ized that in this matter he was not to be treated 
as a child, and they accepted his decision with¬ 
out opposition. 

In June, when a meeting of patriots was called 
at Sparrow Inn, McKinley, together with many 
other youth of the town, enlisted to serve for 
three years. 

What he said many years later about the 
volunteers who fell during the war describes 
the spirit in which he offered his services to his 
country. 

He said : “They enlisted in the army with 
no expectation of promotion; not for the paltry 
pittance of pay; not for fame or popular ap- 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


plause, for their services, however efficient, were 
not to be heralded abroad. They entered the 
army moved by the highest and purest motives 
of patriotism.” 

McKinley was made a member of Company 
E of the Twenty-third Regiment of Ohio Vol¬ 
unteers. The regiment was mustered and 
organized at Camp Chase near Columbus. 
Company E was made up largely of young 
men; almost 50 per cent, of its members were 
under twenty-one years of age. 

For several weeks the raw recruits were kept 
at Camp Chase, where they were instructed, 
drilled, and seasoned a bit before being exposed 
to the hardships of war. 

These independent, high-spirited young men 
needed discipline in endurance quite as much 
as drill in manoeuver. They were very ready 
to find fault and offer suggestions. 

Among other grievances they complained 
that the firearms provided by the State for vol¬ 
unteers were unfit for service. William Mc¬ 
Kinley, though not the spokesman on this 
occasion, supported the speaker with his pres¬ 
ence and approval. 


WILLIAM McKINLE V 


99 


R. B. Hayes, who was one day to be Presi¬ 
dent of the United States, was the Major of the 
Twenty-third Ohio. He addressed the young 
recruits with such kindness and good sense as 
to win their instant confidence and affection. 

He reminded them of the patriotism of 
Washington’s soldiers, who were willing to 
tramp barefoot through the snow for the country 
that was not able to provide them with shoes. 

He told them that he was as anxious to have 
them properly equipped as they were them¬ 
selves ; that as soon as the Government could 
procure better arms they would be supplied. 
The soldiers felt ashamed of themselves after 
this speech, and were eager to prove how much 
they were willing to suffer and do. 

Major Hayes’ professions of interest in the 
men who made up his regiment were not empty 
words. He became personally acquainted with 
many of them, and was particularly attached to 
McKinley, then a handsome, though rather 
slight and pale, youth, with a very winning 
smile and thoughtful gray eyes. 

The first real work assigned to the Twenty- 
third Ohio was to drive out the rebels who were 


L.ofC. 


IOO 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


established in the mountains of West Virginia, 
carrying on an annoying guerilla warfare. 

From the last part of July until time to go into 
winter quarters this regiment was kept on the 
march through a rough and difficult country in 
well-nigh fruitless pursuit of the will-o’-the- 
wisp-like enemy. 

There were marches in the hot sun; there 
were marches through drenching rains; there 
were days with little to eat and nights with no 
beds save the earth; there were advances and 
retreats; there were false alarms and bloody 
skirmishes. 

But with all their marching and fighting the 
Twenty-third Ohio went into winter quarters 
with the enemy still in possession of the moun¬ 
tains. And after a winter spent in recruiting 
and drilling at Camp Ewing, on New River, 
the regiment resumed its task. 

William McKinley had so much sound sense 
and so genial a nature that he could not live 
long in any community without winning friends. 

During his first winter in the army he gained 
not only the good-will of his messmates and 
fellow-soldiers, but the notice of the officers. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


IOI 


In April, 1862, when nineteen years of age, he 
was made regimental commissary sergeant. 

Young as he was, the new sergeant had a 
good head for business and found occasion, 
even in dispensing coffee, to show pluck and 
courage as well as executive ability. 

General J. L. Botsford told the incident by 
which the commissary sergeant won applause 
and promotion at the battle of Antietam in the 
following words: 

“At the battle of Antietam McKinley was 
the commissary sergeant of the Twenty-third 
Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and his 
duty was, of course, with the commissary sup¬ 
plies, which were at least two miles from the 
battle-field proper. 

“ In all battles, whether large or small, there 
are numerous stragglers who easily find their 
way back to where the commissary supplies 
are. This was the case at Antietam, and Mc¬ 
Kinley conceived and put into execution the 
idea of using some of these stragglers to make 
coffee and carry it to the boys in front. 

“ It was nearly dark when we heard tremen¬ 
dous cheering from the left of our regiment. 


102 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


As we had been having heavy fighting right 
up to this time, our division commander, Gen¬ 
eral Scammon, sent me to find out the cause, 
which I very soon found to be cheers for Mc¬ 
Kinley and his hot coffee. 

“You can readily imagine the rousing wel¬ 
come he received from both officers and men. 

“ When you consider the fact of his leaving 
his post of security and driving into the mid¬ 
dle of a bloody battle with a team of mules, 
it needs no words of mine to show the char¬ 
acter and determination of McKinley. 

“He loaded up two wagons with supplies, 
but the mules of one were disabled. He was 
ordered back time and again, but he pushed 
right on.” 

Many years after it happened President 
Hayes gave the following graphic account 
of the incident and its results: 

“ The battle began at daylight. Before day¬ 
light the men were in the ranks and preparing 
for it. Without breakfast, without coffee, they 
went into the fight, and it continued until after 
the sun had set. 

“Early in the afternoon, naturally enough, 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


103 


with the exertion required of the men, they 
were famished and thirsty and to some extent 
broken in spirit. The commissary department 
of the brigade was under Sergeant McKinley’s 
administration and personal supervision. 

From his hands every man in the regiment 
was served with hot coffee and warm meats, a 
thing that had never occurred under similar 
circumstances in any other army in the world. 

“He passed under fire and delivered, with 
his own hands, these things, so essential to the 
men for whom he was laboring. 

“Coming to Ohio and recovering from 
wounds, I called upon Governor Tod and told 
him this incident. With the emphasis that dis¬ 
tinguished that great war Governor he said, 
“Let McKinley be promoted from sergeant to 
lieutenant.” 


IV. 

A COMMISSIONED OFFICER. 

On the twenty-third of September, 1862, 
William McKinley was made second lieutenant 
of Company D. On the thirteenth of Decern- 



104 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


ber Colonel Hayes made the following entry in 
his note-book: 

“ Our <new Second Lieutenant returned to¬ 
day. An exceedingly bright, intelligent, and 
gentlemanly young officer. He promises to be 
one of the best.” 

Colonel Hayes made the young officer of 
whom he held so high an opinion his brigade 
quartermaster. He kept him on his staff for 
more than a year, and never had occasion to 
think less of him. Indeed, he once said, “ I 
did literally and in fact know him like a book 
and loved him like a brother.” 

In February, 1863, McKinley was made first 
lieutenant. The long, wearisome campaign 
against the rebels in West Virginia was varied 
for the Twenty-third, in July, 1863, by an ex¬ 
pedition into Ohio in pursuit of Morgan, the 
Confederate raider, who had crossed the river 
and carried fire and terror into the North. 

The year 1864 was one of great activity for 
McKinley’s regiment. The last action of im¬ 
portance before the completion of the three 
years for which the regiment had enlisted was 
the battle of Cloyd Mountain. McKinley him- 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 105 

self has left us a thrilling account of that en¬ 
gagement : 

“Skilful and furious the battle tried the metal 
of the best men of the command. The Twenty- 
third was on the right of the First Brigade, and 
over the beautiful meadow which intervened 
the troops moved grandly at a double quick, 
the ball and cannister of the enemy having 
little perceptible effect upon their well-formed 
line, down to the ugly stream which interposed 
its obstruction, in full sight and range of the 
Confederates. 

“Without a halt, on they dash into it and 
across it. ‘ Then with a yell, amidst shrapnell 
and shell,’ the ascent is commenced—quick and 
furious the charge is continued amid heavy fire 
of musketry; the enemy’s works are taken, 
their artillery captured, and another great vic¬ 
tory is added to the regiment’s scroll of fame.” 

With three years of hard fighting and hun¬ 
dreds, yes, thousands, of miles of marching 
behind them, and the prospect of a difficult and 
dangerous campaign, there were few soldiers of 
the Twenty-third who hesitated on the eleventh 
of June to reenlist for three years more of ser- 


106 WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 

vice. McKinley, you may be sure, was not one 
of the few. 

In the battles that followed the young officer 
had opportunity to render the Union cause 
yet more conspicuous service than he had pre¬ 
viously given. 

When General Crook’s forces were surprised 
by General Early, nearly every man on the 
Union side was called upon to show what man¬ 
ner of man he was. 

McKinley stood the test well. He was com¬ 
manded to ride in the face of the approaching 
enemy to an orchard some hundreds of yards 
distant to carry the order of retreat to a regi¬ 
ment stationed there. 

With heavy hearts the older generals watched 
the young officer whom they loved like a son 
gallop off on the errand that might cost him his 
life. He made the dash in the face of the on¬ 
coming enemy. 

The bullets whirred around and past him. He 
was lost for a moment in the cloud of smoke, 
but he kept his seat on his little brown horse, 
and rode gallantly and harmlessly through the 
fire, straight and cool, to his destination. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. icy 

When, under protection of the fire of the regi¬ 
ment he had been sent to summon, he regained 
his place with his friends, General Hayes said 
to him, “I never expected to see you in life 
again.” 

As the Federal forces were retreating, dispir¬ 
ited from defeat and well-nigh exhausted after 
the battle and the long march without food, 
they passed four abandoned cannon with their 
caissons. 

McKinley suggested that the soldiers haul 
them off and save them from the enemy. Gen¬ 
eral Hayes smiled doubtfully, saying that was 
more than the men were in spirit to do. Mc¬ 
Kinley insisted that the Twenty-third could 
and would do it. 

General Hayes gave him permission to ap¬ 
peal for volunteers. The lieutenant spoke first 
to his old company, asking who would lend a 
hand to help him move the guns. 

Every man in the company stepped forward. 
The rest of the regiment, catching the enthusi¬ 
asm, joined them, and they marched off making 
light of their burden. 

On the day following the battle Lieutenant 


108 IVILLTAM MCKINLEY. 

McKinley was made a captain. Shortly after 
this he was advanced to General Crook’s staff, 
where he held the position of Acting Assistant 
Adjutant General. 

Through Sheridan’s campaign McKinley 
was in action almost constantly, and was often 
under fire. On the third of September his 
horse was shot under him in a night skirmish, 
but he was not hurt. McKinley left on record 
a vivid description of the battle of Opequan: 

“ This was a general engagement in which 
the forces on both sides stubbornly contested 
the field. For a time the fortunes of war 
waned, when at last our line received a shock 
which secured the Confederates an advantage. 

“Crook’s army then was hurried to the front, 
and in reaching its assigned place Hayes, im¬ 
patient of delays and obstructions, dashed into 
that deep and insurpassable morass, never 
before traversed by the foot of man, his horse 
sinking almost from sight; now dismounted, 
he leaps to his saddle again, and floundering, 
struggling, and wading, he reaches the other 
side in safety; then at the word of command 
the Twenty-third followed its old commander 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. IO 9 

over the dangerous marsh, determined to go 
wherever he led them. 

“ Then into line; charge after charge is 
made; desperate and more desperate they 
grow; grape and cannister are fast thinning 
out our ranks; another assault, and the pon¬ 
derous columns meet in the shock of the 
battle; then the death grapple, and the shouts 
of victory went up from Sheridan’s forces, as 
when storms the welkin rend—we had won the 
day. Winchester was ours, with the key to 
the Shenandoah.” 

Captain McKinley did good service that day. 
One incident that occurred during the battle 
shows the young officer’s fearlessness of con¬ 
sequences to himself when he knew that he 
was right. 

He had been sent by General Crook to in¬ 
struct General Duval to move his division into 
action. He had found the road over which his 
instructions said General Duval’s force should 
advance almost impassable; so he changed the 
order and named another road. 

General Duval followed his directions, and 
arrived in time to give the assistance needed. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


I IO 

Captain McKinley had been guilty, in changing 
the order, of a direct violation of army disci¬ 
pline. 

He appreciated the importance of carrying 
out orders literally, and knew that if his act 
led to disaster, he would be held responsible 
and court-martialed, but he knew, too, which 
was the better road and the necessity of prompt 
reinforcements, and he did not hesitate to take 
upon his shoulders the responsibility of choos¬ 
ing between the letter and the spirit of the law. 

McKinley took part in the engagement at 
Fisher’s Hill. Then came the memorable day 
when the field was lost and won by the Union 
troops. 

When Sheridan “ rode from Winchester 
twenty miles away,” he met McKinley near 
the fighting line; calm and in full grasp of the 
situation, the young captain was able to give 
the general a clear account of the battle and 
to direct him to the officers. A little later that 
day he saw Sheridan— 

“ Striking his spurs with a terrible oath 
He dashed down the line ’mid a storm of huzzas, 

And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because 
The sight of the master compelled it to pause.” 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


111 


The next spring McKinley received his com¬ 
mission as Major “ for gallant and meritorious 
services at the battle of Opequan, Cedar Creek, 
and Fisher’s Hill.” 

A month later the war ended and peace 
reigned. Major McKinley’s experience on the 
battle-field was over, but he would yet have 
need of all the lessons he had learned there. 


V. 

A CIVILIAN. 

The seventeen-year-old boy who had left 
his Ohio home in 1861 to go to the war came 
back in the summer of 1865 a man—a citizen 
who had cast his first vote. He had given his 
country four years of faithful, able service. 

Those years from seventeen to twenty-one 
are the golden years of a youth’s life. It had 
been this young man’s dream to spend them 
at college with youths of bright minds and 
polished manners and fine taste, studying the 
sciences and arts, learning history and litera¬ 
ture, practising composition and oratory under 
the guidance of scholarly, high-minded men. 



I 12 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


To exchange this for the rough life of a sol¬ 
dier would seem to be to sacrifice the best 
equipment for life for a very poor one. To 
many such a change was doubtless ruinous, 
but to McKinley it gave a different, though not 
less valuable, preparation for useful living. 

The athletic department of his severe school, 
although without trapeze or foot-ball, had yet 
not been deficient. By four years of marching 
and riding and sleeping in tents or rolled up 
in a blanket under the stars he had gained a 
strong muscular frame and a rugged consti¬ 
tution that could stand strain or shock without 
exhaustion or injury. 

He had learned much, too. His senses had 
become keen from this out-of-door life, and his 
power of inference had been quickened. It is 
no small thing to know any extensive territory 
as he had come to know much of West Vir¬ 
ginia in its grandeur of mountains and torrents 
and its beauty of fertile valley. 

He had gained some of the engineers’ power, 
on the one hand, to see all parts of the country 
he traveled over in their proper relation to each 
other as if mapped out before him, and, on the 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


I 13 

other, in looking at a map to see it in imagina¬ 
tion translated into mountains and hills and 
plains. 

He could tell where the good roads did or 
ought to run, and had come to be a quick 
judge of the resources of a region and of its 
accessibility and facilities for transportation. 

As he traveled his mental vision was not 
bounded by the horizon line. What he saw 
told him much that he did not see. 

With his mind’s eye he followed the river 
beyond the curve; the hills looming in the 
foreground did not obscure for him the moun¬ 
tains beyond. 

When he crossed the unplowed fields in 
early spring he knew with what grain they 
waved in September. 

He had learned not a little of human nature 
as well. He had both points of view—-that of 
the men behind the guns and that of the staff 
officers. 

His fourteen months’ service in the ranks 
had given him a very clear knowledge of what 
the average soldier thinks and feels, which was 
useful to him as lieutenant, captain, and major. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


I 14 

He had learned the power of a pleasant look 
and a friendly word, and had begun to practise 
that gracious courtesy of manner for which he 
was so remarkable in after-life. 

He knew which argument counted by the 
camp fire, which in the general’s tent, and had 
taken some lessons in policy. 

Perhaps the greatest benefit resulting from 
his experience in the war was the character de¬ 
velopment it had given him. First he had 
learned the lesson of prompt, absolute obe¬ 
dience to the letter of a command; later, the 
sterner discipline of freedom within limitations, 
of reasoning obedience to the wish of another, 
had been his. 

Thus he learned moderation and control in 
all things, from the satisfaction of hunger and 
thirst after a weary march, even to obedience 
and docility to those in authority. 

Many of the friendships he made during the 
war, especially his friendship with R. B. Hayes,, 
played an important part in his life then and 
later. 

When the young major was discharged from 
the army, the question, “What shall I do?” 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


1 15 

immediately presented itself. Some of his 
friends advised him to stay in the army, but 
military life in time of peace had little attrac¬ 
tion for him. 

He had proved his business ability in the 
office of quartermaster, and he believed he 
should find success as certain and as rapid in 
peace as in war. He was eager to try his 
power in new fields. His mind was pretty well 
made up to study law. 

The more he considered it, the more thor¬ 
oughly convinced he became that that was what 
he ought to do. The trouble was that this 
would require at least two years’ work, during 
which time he must live, and he had no money. 

His* sister Anne, who was both fond and 
proud of her soldier brother, came to his assist¬ 
ance with a loan of money she had saved from 
her earnings as a teacher. 

William McKinley accordingly devoted the 
next two years of his life to the study of law. 
He began reading law in the office of Judge 
Glidden, but finished at a law school in Albany, 
New York. 

When ready to go into business, instead of 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


116 

trying to establish himself in the East, he went 
back to his own State and opened an office in 
Canton. 

Canton then had a population of about 5000. 
The new lawyer, Major McKinley, soon made 
his presence in the little town felt. He knew a 
few people there to begin with, and soon be¬ 
came acquainted with others. 

He united with the Methodist Church and 
took an active part in church work. He was 
made superintendent of the large Sunday- 
school. Before long he was recognized as one 
of the leading young men of the town. 

The third year after coming to Canton Mc¬ 
Kinley was chosen by the Republicans of 
Stark County as their candidate for prosecuting 
attorney. 

His friends were pleased. They said that 
the county was so decidedly Democratic that 
there was no hope of his election, but it was a 
compliment; it would be a good advertisement, 
and would lead to something in the future. 

Major McKinley did not, however, accept the 
nomination in that spirit. He determined to 
win the election if honorable effort on his part 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


II7 

could compass it. He made a tour of the 
county, addressing political gatherings in 
school-houses and town halls. 

His hearers liked what he said, and they 
liked him, and when election day came, they 
voted for him. The result was that he sur¬ 
prised his own party by victory. He filled the 
position most acceptably for two years. 

While practising law in Canton Mr. McKin¬ 
ley met Miss Ida Saxton, the daughter of a 
wealthy banker and prominent in the village. 
Miss Saxton was beautiful and, for that time, 
highly educated. 

She had studied at a Cleveland school and 
also at Miss Eastman’s seminary, Brook Hall, 
at Media, Pa. She had traveled in Europe and 
had had many of the advantages that help to 
make an accomplished woman. 

Since she was as charming and amiable as 
she was beautiful and cultivated, it is small 
wonder that Major McKinley fell in love with 
her. Nor is it any great wonder that she pre¬ 
ferred him, with his record as a soldier, his gift 
of eloquence, his winning manner, to any of her 
other suitors. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


Her father declared that William McKinley 
was the only man he knew to whom he would 
be willing to trust his daughter’s happiness. 
So after a happy courtship these two young 
people were married and they went to house¬ 
keeping in a pretty little home in the village. 

And so William McKinley became a house¬ 
holder and permanent citizen of Canton, Ohio. 

It is scarcely necessary to add here that Mr. 
Saxton never had reason to regret his confi¬ 
dence in William McKinley. 

His beautiful tenderness and devotion to his 
wife through trouble and prosperity, sickness 
and health, joy and sorrow, are too well known 
to need comment. 


VI. 

A CONGRESSMAN. 

Having won honors in war and having estab¬ 
lished himself as a prosperous and influential 
citizen of Canton, Major McKinley was now 
ready for other worlds to conquer. 

Political life allured him. The nomination 



WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


19 


of his friend, General R. B. Hayes, for the presi¬ 
dency of the nation directed his thoughts to 
Washington. 

Congress is the natural opening to national 
political life. Mr. McKinley’s first step toward 
his goal was, therefore, to secure the nomina¬ 
tion as Republican candidate from his congres¬ 
sional district. 

So great was his popularity that he was able 
to do this, though many older and more ex¬ 
perienced men were seeking the nomination. 
Once nominated, he put his best foot forward 
to gain the election. 

He traveled about his district, meeting the 
voters, talking with them, and making “stump 
speeches/’ He was genial and businesslike, 
an interesting speaker, and won friends and 
votes wherever he went. 

This was in the year 1876, when the nation 
was celebrating its one-hundredth birthday with 
a great exposition at Philadelphia. McKinley 
was among the thousands who went from all 
parts of the country to the “Centennial Expo¬ 
sition.” There he saw displayed the products 
of mine and forest, farm and shop. 


120 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


He compared what the United States had to 
show with the exhibits of foreign nations, and 
was impressed with the abundant resources of 
our country and the growth of its industries, 
realizing as never before the industrial possi¬ 
bilities of America. 

While at Philadelphia Major McKinley met 
some of the country’s famous men and was in¬ 
vited to make an address. He was introduced 
to the large audience assembled to hear him by 
James G. Blaine. 

His speech was listened to with interest so 
apparent and rewarded with applause so enthu¬ 
siastic that the leading politicians marked the 
stranger from Ohio as a popular speaker. His 
speech was reported in the home papers and 
added not a little to his popularity in his district. 

McKinley was well fitted for public life, and 
what would have cost some men painful effort, 
he did with ease and pleasure. It was, there¬ 
fore, with decided gratification that he learned 
of his election to Congress. 

On going to Washington to live Mr. Mc¬ 
Kinley found that President Hayes had not 
forgotten his one-time quartermaster. Mrs. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


I 2 I 


McKinley and Mrs. Hayes also became firm 
friends. 

So, during the first winter in Washington, 
Mr. and Mrs. McKinley began to feel ac¬ 
quainted with the White House, which was 
one day to be their home. 

Mr. McKinley spoke nine times during his 
first term in Congress. He first addressed the 
House on behalf of the iron manufacturers of 
his district. He made one long speech on the 
subject upon which he was to become recog¬ 
nized as an authority—protective tariff. 

This term in Congress was the beginning 
for many for Mr. McKinley. He lived in a 
region where the elections were often closely 
contested. The State was redistricted several 
times, so that Stark County was for one cam¬ 
paign in a Democratic district, for another in 
a Republican district. These changes, how¬ 
ever, could not defeat McKinley. 

The year of 1882 was one of great Demo¬ 
cratic victories, and McKinley was elected by 
a majority of only eight votes. When he re¬ 
ferred to his small majority in talking with Mr. 


122 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


Folger, the latter said grimly, “Young man, 
eight is a large majority this year.” 

He was not allowed, however, to keep his 
seat. Shortly after the election that had been 
so close Mr. McKinley closed an address with 
these words: “ I speak for the workingmen of 
my district, the workingmen of Ohio and of 
the country.” 

Congressman Springer, of Illinois, could not 
resist the temptation to call out, “ They did not 
speak very largely for you at the last election.” 

This raised a laugh at McKinley’s expense. 
But he was never a good subject for ridicule; 
he turned quickly to Mr. Springer and said: 
“Ah! my friend, my fidelity to my convictions 
is not measured by the support they give me. 
I have convictions upon this subject which I 
would not surrender or refrain from advocating 
if 10,000 majority had been entered against me 
last October.” 

In the years 1884, 1886, and 1888 Mr. McKin¬ 
ley received unquestionable majorities, and dur¬ 
ing those years he gained steadily in the mastery 
of public affairs and in influence in the House. 

He was especially interested in maintaining 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


23 


a duty on imported goods high enough to pro¬ 
tect American manufacturers against the com¬ 
petition of foreign manufacturers. 

He was among those who believed that the 
United States could and ought to become a 
great manufacturing country, as well as a great 
agricultural country. He, therefore, regretted 
the tendency to develop agricultural interests 
and to depend upon other nations for manu¬ 
factured goods. 

This state of affairs put the people of the 
United States at the mercy of foreign manufac¬ 
turers and enabled them to ask what prices 
they chose for their goods. 

As the lower wages of workingmen in Europe 
and the greater abundance of skilled labor and 
organized capital enabled the foreign manu¬ 
facturer to make cloth, shoes, machinery, and 
things most useful so cheaply that he could 
undersell the home manufacturer, there was 
little encouragement to Americans to invest 
their capital in manufacturing. 

Mr. McKinley thought that the Government 
should charge so high a duty on imported 


124 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


goods that the home producer could undersell 
the importer and still make a profit. 

He insisted that the well-being of the country 
demanded the ample protection of its manu¬ 
facturing interests in order to keep that industry 
alive, to maintain the high wages of working¬ 
men, and to insure reasonably low prices on 
merchandise. 

As has been said, McKinley’s first long 
speech in the House was against a tariff bill 
which was intended to reduce the tariff. 

In 1880 he endeavored to make the tariff the ; 
main issue of the campaign. In a political 
speech at Cooper Union in New York he as¬ 
serted that he was directly opposed to the 
Democratic teaching that the main purpose of 
tariff was revenue and that protection should 
be incidental; he said he stood for a tariff for 
protection with incidental revenue. This bold 
doctrine was much quoted and discussed dur¬ 
ing the campaign. 

In Congress that fall McKinley continued to 
advocate a high tariff. In the Forty-ninth Con¬ 
gress he was appointed on the Committee of 
Ways and Means, which had charge of the re- 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


125 


vision of the tariff. His voice had little weight, 
however, with the Democratic chairman. 

The plan of “horizontal reduction,” or the 
lowering of existing duties 20 per cent., devised 
by this committee, did not meet with McKin¬ 
ley’s approval. He denounced the measure as 
“ an invention of indolence and the mechanism 
of a botch workman.” 

McKinley was again placed on the Commit¬ 
tee of Ways and Means during the next session 
)f Congress. This time, also, the committee 
was Democratic, with R. Q. Mills for chairman. 

In the heated discussion of the Mills bill 
McKinley took a prominent part. Much as he 
had to say on the subject, however, he was 
more than willing to let other men express their 
views. Samuel J. Randall, who spoke before 
him in opening the debate, had not finished 
when time was called. 

The Speaker was willing to allow him more 
time, but Mr. Mills, supported by other Demo¬ 
cratic members, objected, and it looked for a 
second as if the once powerful political leader 
was to be discourteously silenced. But Mc¬ 
Kinley was on his feet. “Mr. Speaker,” he 


126 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


said, “ I yield to the gentleman from Pennsyl¬ 
vania out of my time all that he may need to 
finish his speech on this bill.” 

This courteous act won cheers and applause, 
and when, a little later, the member from Ohio 
rose to deliver his own speech, he had instant 
attention. 

During the Fifty-first Congress McKinley 
was chairman of the Ways and Means Com¬ 
mittee, and had charge of the drawing of the 
tariff bill that is known by his name. He set 
to work in a thorough and intelligent fashion. 

However much one might disapprove of his 
bill, no one could say that it was “an invention 
of indolence.” His research into the industrial 
conditions of the country was tireless. Instead 
of working behind closed doors as others had 
done, he invited manufacturers to confer with 
him, and his office was open to all business 
men who had complaints, requests, or informa¬ 
tion to offer. 

In order to facilitate the intelligent discussion 
of the bill he directed the clerk of the commit¬ 
tee to prepare a carefully indexed report of the 
conferences of the committee and table of tariff 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


127 


statistics, copies of which were furnished to 
every member of the House. 

Both in the preparation and in the discussion 
of the McKinley Bill, McKinley was the master 
spirit. 


VII. 

GOVERNOR OF OHIO. 

The friends of free trade, those opposed to 
high tariff, did their best in the election of 1890 
to defeat the author of the McKinley Bill, and 
they succeeded. 

But the next year he was nominated by the 
Republican Party to be Governor of Ohio. He 
made a vigorous campaign, discussing the tariff 
and the currency questions. He had a good 
business sense and could be depended upon to 
take the practical view of a question. 

In the days when the market value of gold 
and of silver was nearly equal, he had seen the 
advisability of keeping them so, and had favored 
legislation to that end. 

Now, however, as circumstances beyond the 
control of legislation seemed driving them 



123 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


further and further apart, he saw the impractica¬ 
bility of the free and unlimited coinage of gold 
and silver at a fixed ratio, and gave his support 
to the single gold standard. 

After a wide-awake campaign McKinley was 
elected governor by a large plurality. 

One of the first acts of the new Governor was 
to order an oil painting of Governor Tod, the 
war Governor of Ohio, who had suggested his 
first promotion, hung in the Governor’s office 
in the State House. 

He remembered with gratitude the man who 
had recognized and rewarded the ability and 
bravery of the boy soldier. 

In June, 1892, Governor McKinley was sent 
as a delegate to the National Republican Con¬ 
vention. He was made chairman of the great 
gathering. He delivered a brilliant opening 
address and conducted the meeting with a fair¬ 
ness and a tact so commanding and so ingra¬ 
tiating that an attempt was made by the dele¬ 
gates of his own State to nominate him instead 
of Mr. Harrison for the presidency. He chal¬ 
lenged the vote, however, and checked the ris¬ 
ing wave of enthusiasm. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


129 


This was not the first time William McKinley 
had made his will prevail in a national conven¬ 
tion. He had played a conspicuous part in the 
conventions of 1884 and 1888. 

In 1884 he had been influential, at the critical 
moment, in securing James G. Blaine the nomi¬ 
nation. This action made his party regard him 
as a leader, a man to be looked to in a crisis to 
do the right thing. 

The firmness and the sense of fitness he dis¬ 
played in the convention of 1888 had won 
widespread commendation. While indecision 
and uncertainty held sway, a stray vote cast for 
William McKinley was greeted with a round 
of applause and cheers. 

A moment later seventeen votes for William 
McKinley were announced. A tumult of ap¬ 
plause rose. It looked as if the delegates had 
found a man upon whom they could agree. 

But at this juncture McKinley sprang upon 
a chair and with uplifted hand commanded 
silence. In every line of his face was deter¬ 
mination. His far-reaching voice carried con¬ 
viction to every man who heard it. He said: 

“Mr. President and Gentlemen of this Con- 


30 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


vention: I am here as one of the chosen rep¬ 
resentatives of my State. I am here by reso¬ 
lution of the Republican State Convention, 
commanding me to cast my vote for John Sher¬ 
man for President and to use every worthy 
endeavor to secure his nomination. 

“ I accepted the trust because my heart and 
judgment were in accord with the letter and 
spirit and purpose of that resolution. It has 
pleased certain delegates to cast their votes for 
me for President. I am not insensible to the 
honor they would do me, but in the presence 
of the duty resting upon me I cannot remain 
silent with honor. 

“ I cannot consistently with the wish of the 
State whose credentials I bear and which has 
trusted me—I cannot consistently with my own 
views of personal integrity—consent or seem 
to consent to permit my name to be used as a 
candidate before this convention. 

“I would not respect myself if I could find 
it in my heart to do or to permit to be done 
that which could even be ground for any one 
to suspect that I have wavered in my loyalty 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 131 

to Ohio or my devotion to the chief of her 
choice and the chief of mine. 

“I do not request—I demand—that no dele¬ 
gate who would not cast reflection upon me 
shall cast a ballot for me.” 

The American citizens appreciated the spirit 
of a man who for a point of honor could with 
so great determination put aside an opportunity 
so glorious. 

He went to Congress the next fall, as we 
have seen, and prepared for the country the 
McKinley Bill. He was then elected Governor 
of Ohio, and at the expiration of his term of 
office re-elected by an overwhelming majority. 

While thus advancing in political fortune, 
Mr. McKinley suffered a business loss that 
threatened to make it necessary for him to give 
up public life. With reckless generosity he had 
gone security for a friend for an amount ex¬ 
ceeding his possessions. 

His friend failed, and the law held Governor 
McKinley responsible for the payment of his 
debts. He and his noble wife agreed to give 
up all their property without reservation and 
pay in full the notes that bore his signature. 


132 WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 

To clear his name from debt and restore to 
his wife the fortune of which his rash act had 
bereft her, he resolved to resign his position, 
retire from public life, and resume the practice 
of law. 

He was not allowed to take this step, how¬ 
ever. There were public-spirited men who 
knew that many men could easily make money 
under good laws, but that few men were so 
able as Governor McKinley to compass the 
making of good laws; they were determined 
that the penalty of his loyalty to his friend 
should not be his retirement from politics. 

As the governor protested against accepting, 
a few wealthy Republicans made up a subscrip¬ 
tion without his consent, for the purpose of can¬ 
celing the debt and restoring to Mr. and Mrs. 
McKinley the property they had sacrificed. 

This cloud having passed away, Governor 
McKinley threw his whole strength into public 
affairs once more. In 1894, the year after the 
great World’s Fair at Chicago, the country was 
in a most depressed state. Factories were 
closed, men were out of work, discontent and 
alarm reigned. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


133 


In this dark hour business men looked to 
the fearless and persistent champion of pro¬ 
tective tariff as the one best able to check the 
tide of disaster sweeping over the country. 

Mr. McKinley was persuaded to make a lec¬ 
ture tour, which proved to be one of the most 
remarkable ever known. He visited eighteen 
States, traveling more than ten thousand miles, 
and addressing millions of people. Everywhere 
he was met with unparalleled enthusiasm. 

At the stations along the roads thousands of 
farmers assembled to hear him speak a few 
words from the rear platform of his car. In 
the great cities tens of thousands of craftsmen 
and manufacturers gathered in great halls or in 
the open air to hear him speak. 

Greater crowds never assembled to do honor 
to crowned monarch or victorious warrior than 
in this period of industrial depression met to 
welcome the workingmen’s friend and hero, 
William McKinley. 

The firmly knit, erect figure, the well-shaped 
head, the kind face with its deep gray eyes and 
strong chin, became familiar throughout the 
Central and Southern States. 


34 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY ,i 


Even a larger audience than the great one 
that heard and saw Mr. McKinley read in the 
daily papers full reports of his speeches. It 
was plain that he was the people’s candidate 
for the presidency. 


VIII. 

NOMINATION AND ELECTION AS PRESIDENT. 

The spring of 1896 was a remarkable one 
for the people of St. Louis. Late in May a 
terrible cyclone swept over the beautiful city, 
destroying everything in its path and causing 
great loss of life. 

Only three weeks later, before the wreckage 
had been cleared away, the streets of the 
stricken city were gay with banners and 
thronged with people, for the delegates and 
guests were assembling there from every State 
in the Union for the National Republican Con¬ 
vention. 

Less than a quarter of a mile from the path 
of the tornado stood the convention auditor¬ 
ium, little hurt by the storm. The building 



WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


35 


was a large oblong structure made of Georgia 
pine. 

Its barn-like plainness was relieved at the 
entrance by a gorgeous and lavish display of 
red, white, and blue bunting. Hundreds of 
pennants over the roof, high against the blue 
sky, helped the far-sounding band to excite a 
thrilling consciousness of patriotism in the 
hearts of those who approached. 

The building had a seating capacity of 
13,000. Galleries extended around the four 
sides of the hall, and when filled, the Audi¬ 
torium was fairly walled about with spectators. 

Though all conceded that little short of a 
miracle could prevent the nomination of Mc¬ 
Kinley, whose followers had rallied in great 
force at St. Louis, there were several other 
candidates in the field. 

After the business relating to the party plat¬ 
form was finished, the several candidates for 
nomination were introduced with more or less 
eloquence and received with more or less en¬ 
thusiasm, until Senator Foraker pronounced 
the name of the candidate he offered to the 
Convention—William McKinley. 


136 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


That name roused a storm of cheers and a 
thunder of applause that lasted more than half 
an hour. 

At length the gavel of the presiding officer 
demanding quiet was heeded, and Senator 
Foraker was allowed to finish his speech. In 
summing up his candidate’s title to the con¬ 
sideration of the Convention he said: 

“ His testimonials are of private life, without 
reproach; four years of heroic service as a boy- 
soldier on the battle-fields of the Republic 
under such gallant generals as Philip H. Sher¬ 
idan ; twelve years of conspicuous service in 
the halls of Congress, associated with great 
leaders of Republicanism ; four years of execu¬ 
tive service as Governor of Ohio; but great¬ 
est of all, measured by present requirements, 
leader of the House of Representatives and 
author of the McKinley law—-a law under 
which labor had richer reward and the country 
greatly increased prosperity.” 

When the ballot was taken the plurality for 
McKinley was found to be so great that there 
was no hope for the other candidates. Their 
names were, therefore, gracefully withdrawn, 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


13 7 


and the vote for William McKinley was made 
unanimous. 

The news brought great joy to the Canton 
home, where the man of the hour sat with his 
wife, mother, and a few friends, following, with 
the help of the telegraph, the movements of 
the Convention. 

In July the Democratic Party, in convention 
at Chicago, nominated William J. Bryan as its 
candidate. The campaign that followed was 
an unusual one. 

The young free silver candidate of the 
Democratic Party traveled from one section 
of the country to another, advocating free 
coinage of silver, with marvelous energy and 
ability, fighting his way almost entirely with¬ 
out the support of the press. 

Meanwhile William McKinley staid quietly 
at home. The press and all the conservative 
forces of the country united to fight the battle 
of gold against silver for him. It was not 
necessary for him to take an active part; he 
had done his work—his name had become an 
argument. 

But it was not his nature to wait passively. 


138 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


He held frequent conferences with party lead¬ 
ers, and never tired of meeting and addressing 
the endless delegations of voters that visited 
Canton during the summer and fall. 

The contest was fierce, and the country 
waited in great anxiety for the outcome of the 
November election. The victory for McKinley 
and the gold standard brought a general sense 
of relief and security that found immediate 
expression in increased business throughout 
the United States. 

According to the long-established custom, 
McKinley took the oath of office and delivered 
his inaugural address from the steps of the 
national Capitol on the fourth of March fol¬ 
lowing his election. 

As he drove to the Capitol amid rejoicing 
thousands, he turned to President Cleveland 
saying, “What an impressive thing it is to 
assume tremendous responsibilities.” 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


139 


IX, 

PRESIDENT. 

President McKinley’s administration proved 
to be an eventful and important one for the 
United States in both civil and military achieve¬ 
ments. 

As we have seen, he was elected with the 
hope that the policy of his party, his policy, 
with respect to tariff and currency would re¬ 
store industrial prosperity. He called an extra 
session of Congress in order promptly to fulfil 
the expectations of the people. 

A high tariff bill was passed. The silver 
scare was over. Closed factories opened their 
doors; fires blazed in furnaces long cold; busy 
wheels long silent buzzed again; new mills 
and factories were established ; the unemployed 
found work, and an era of commercial pros¬ 
perity dawned. 

But it was not to be an era of peace. When 
McKinley went into office Cuba was in rebel¬ 
lion against the cruel tyranny of Spain. The 
struggling Cuban patriots were suffering the 
greatest distress. 


140 WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 

They were starving, but would not yield. 
Their unflinching stand for freedom and their 
terrible suffering aroused the sympathy of the 
American people. 

Many thought the Government ought to 
take a hand in the struggle, and drive from 
the Western Hemisphere the nation whose 
flag first waved there. 

The outrages increased. Every day brought 
fresh reports of horror in Cuba. Spain was 
showing herself unfit to govern an enlightened 
people. Indignation against her was general. 

On the morning of the fifteenth of February 
news spread over the country that the United 
States battleship “ Maine,” lying in the harbor 
at Havana, had been blown up the night 
before, and nearly every man aboard her had 
perished. 

The Spaniards had shown themselves so 
barbarous in their dealings with the Cubans 
that many were ready to hold them guilty of 
the destruction of the “ Maine.” 

The long-smoldering indignation of the 
American people burst into flame. The report 
of the committee appointed to investigate the 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


14 


cause of the disaster, that the explosion was 
the result of a “ mine under the ship on her 
port side,” convinced many who had before 
doubted that Spain was responsible for the 
death of our sailors. 

President McKinley was anxious to avoid 
rash action, to avert war, and maintain peace if 
it could be done with honor. But when the 
hostility of Spain made the declaration of war 
inevitable, he proved to be an energetic and 
efficient commander of the army and navy. 

In the months that followed the United 
States showed the nations of the world what 
a patriotic people, without any considerable 
standing army, could do when the war spirit 
was once aroused. 

Not only must thousands of miles of sea- 
coast along the Atlantic and the Pacific be de¬ 
fended from surprise and attack, but war must 
be carried into the enemy’s country. 

All this was done, and yet the resources of 
the country were not strained. There was no 
difficulty in raising money or men for the work. 
The Government’s credit was good ; the people 
had the money to lend; thousands of would-be 


142 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


buyers of Spanish-American war bonds were 
disappointed. 

The call to arms was answered by the best 
young men of the land ; thousands who would 
gladly have gone to war were sent away from 
the recruiting stations disappointed. 

Preparations for war were seen on every 
hand. The fields and groves on the outskirts 
of the State capitals were dotted with innum¬ 
erable white tents; the streets of the cities 
were filled with picturesque groups of boys in 
brown with muskets, haversacks, and som¬ 
breros; in many homes there were loneliness 
and anxiety for the boys who had gone to war. 

There were throngs of people at the railway 
stations with flowers and waving handkerchiefs 
to cheer the train-loads of soldier boys on their 
way to the front. 

War was the topic of the day. But beneath 
all the surface waves of excitement was the 
calmness of strength. The great business of 
war did not seriously interrupt the far greater 
business of peace. 

■ Having begun the war, President McKinley 
pushed it vigorously to a conclusion. The 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


143 


contest was a brief but conspicuous one, a suc¬ 
cession of brilliant victories for the United 
States by sea and land. 

The first thrilling victory came from the 
Spanish possessions in the Pacific—the far- 
off Philippines. On the first of May Admiral 
George Dewey, who was in command of the 
Asiatic Squadron, boldly entered Manila Bay, 
where the Spanish war-ships were at anchor, 
protected by the shore fortifications. Silently 
the great cruisers cut their way through the 
blue water. 

But when they came within reach of the 
Spanish guns, the stillness of early morning 
was broken by a lively cannonading from sea 
and shore. 

The death-dealing thunder of the American 
guns answered. Mercilessly the well-aimed 
balls battered the sides and plowed the decks 
of the old Spanish vessels. One was sinking, 
two were afire, and now another—the unequal 
battle was soon over. 

Without loss of life or injury to a single ship 
the Americans had destroyed eleven Spanish 


144 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


ships protected by shore batteries, and gained 
the key to the Philippines. 

The completeness and brilliancy of this vic¬ 
tory made all Europe wonder, not because it 
gave evidence of American daring and courage, 
—that had never been doubted,—but because 
it showed a skill and power in naval warfare 
which we had not been credited with. 

In July the great victory of the Atlantic 
Squadron in Cuban waters completed the de¬ 
struction of the Spanish fleet, and together with 
the success of our arms on land, terminated the 
American war with Spain. 

We had gone into the war generously, ready 
to sacrifice wealth and life to help an oppressed 
people. We came out of it possessors of the 
lands from which we had driven Spain. 

Many thought we should now withdraw and 
give the islanders the freedom for which they 
had been fighting. But others thought it our 
duty as a more highly civilized people to see 
law and order established and maintained in 
these countries for whose welfare we had made 
ourselves responsible. 

Having conquered Spain, we should now 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


145 


have to make war against the inhabitants of the 
Philippine Islands if we wished to hold their 
land or direct their government. 

History shows us that this was not altogether 
a new situation for the United States. If you 
will compare the narrow strip of land along the 
Atlantic coast that made the original United 
States with the Vast territory extending from 
ocean to ocean that we know as the United 
States, you will see that the extension of do¬ 
minion has long been the policy of our Gov¬ 
ernment. 

We find that though most of the territory 
has been added by purchase, it has not been 
acquired without force of arms; that after the 
legal title to the land was granted by far-off 
political owners, it was often necessary to make 
war against the occupants of the soil to per¬ 
suade thefn that they, too, wanted the United 
States to take possession of their territory. 

In this case the decision was the usual one. 
The President and Congress agreed that it was 
our duty to hold the islands. The rebellious 
Filipinos, accordingly, were subdued, and the 


10 


146 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


work of making cleanliness, enlightenment, and 
justice prevail among them was begun. 

The seal of his party’s and his country’s ap¬ 
proval of his policy in war and in peace was 
given in McKinley’s nomination and election 
for a second term as President of the United 
States. 

x. 

AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK. 

Though circumstances have made McKinley 
famous as a war president, it was because of 
what he did to secure prosperity in time of 
peace that he first received general recognition. 

He had all his life, while a boy in his father’s 
foundry at Niles, while a soldier buying and 
distributing supplies to a regiment, while a 
Congressman working on the Committee of 
Ways and Means, been interested in the pro¬ 
ductions and industries of the country. 

The great sectional or national expositions 
held in the United States, from the Centennial 
in 1876 to the exposition associated with his 
last days on earth, appealed to him as records 
of past industrial achievement and as object- 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


47 


lessons and inspirations for future improve¬ 
ment. 

Accordingly, when he was invited to attend 
the Pan-American Exposition held in Buffalo 
in 1901, he made a place in his busy life for a 
visit there. 

“McKinley Day” was widely advertised. 
Great preparations were made to give the 
President a fitting welcome. His visit was 
looked forward to as the climax of the exposi¬ 
tion festivities. A mighty concourse of people 
greeted him with cheers and waving handker¬ 
chiefs when he appeared on the grand stand 
in the beautiful esplanade on the morning of 
the fifth of September. 

The speech President McKinley made that 
day was so characteristic and so worthy that, 
had he known it to be his last utterance to his 
people, he could not have wished it different. 

The sincere affection and high esteem of the 
people for him were everywhere so manifest 
that had they known it to be their last oppor¬ 
tunity to pay tribute to their leader, they could 
scarcely have given him more convincing evi¬ 
dence of how profoundly they honored him. 


148 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


Washington’s farewell address had been a 
charge to a young and feeble nation to hold 
itself apart from other nations and develop its 
own strength and integrity. 

McKinley’s last speech was a recognition 
that the end desired by Washington had been 
reached; the United States had grown into a 
united and powerful nation ready to play its 
part without fear among the great nations of 
the world. He said: 

“We have a vast and intricate business, built 
up through years of toil and struggle, in which 
every part of the country has its stake, which 
will not permit of either neglect or undue sel¬ 
fishness. No narrow, sordid policy will sub¬ 
serve it; the greatest skill and wisdom on the 
part of the manufacturers and producers will 
be required to hold and increase it. 

“Our industrial enterprises, which have grown 
to such proportions, affect the homes and occu¬ 
pations of all the people and the welfare of the 
country. Our capacity to produce has devel¬ 
oped so enormously, and our products have so 
multiplied, that the problem of more markets 
requires our urgent and immediate attention. 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


I49 


“Only a broad and enlightened policy will 
keep what we have. No other policy will get 
more. In these times of marvelous business 
energy and gain we ought to be looking to the 
future, strengthening the weak places in our 
industrial and commercial systems, that we 
may be ready for any storm or strain. 

“By sensible trade arrangements which will 
not interrupt our home productions we shall 
extend the outlets for our increasing surplus. 
A system which provides a mutual exchange 
of commodities is manifestly essential to the 
continued healthful growth of our export trade. 
We must not repose in fancied security that we 
can forever sell everything and buy little or 
nothing. 

“ If such a thing were possible, it would not 
be best for those with whom we deal. We 
should take from our customers such of their 
products as we use without harm to our indus¬ 
tries and labor. 

“ Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth of our 
wonderful industrial development under the 
domestic policy now firmly established. What 


WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 


150 

we produce beyond our domestic consumption 
must have a vent abroad. 

“ The excess must be relieved through a for¬ 
eign outlet, and we should sell everywhere we 
can, and buy wherever the buying will enlarge 
our sales and productions, and thereby make a 
greater demand for home labor. 

“The period of exclusiveness is past. The 
expansion of our trade and commerce is the 
pressing problem. Commercial wars are un¬ 
profitable. A policy of good-will and friendly 
trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reci¬ 
procity treaties are in harmony with the spirit 
of the times, measures of retaliation are not.” 

President McKinley then spoke of the desir¬ 
ability of building the Isthmian canal and con¬ 
structing the Pacific cable, to bring us into 
closer touch with distant countries, and closed 
with the impressive words: 

“ Our earnest prayer is that God will gra¬ 
ciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and 
peace to all our neighbors and like blessings to 
all the people and powers of the earth.” 

The speech commanded wide-spread atten- 


WILLIAM McKINLE Y. 15 I 

tion and enthusiastic commendation both at 
home and abroad. 

The next day the country was appalled to 
learn that while holding a public reception in 
the Temple of Music at the exposition Presi¬ 
dent McKinley had been shot by an assassin. 

For several days it seemed possible that the 
President might recover, and the watching 
nation wavered between fear and hope. But 
in the darkness of early morning, on the four¬ 
teenth of September, people were roused from 
sleep by the tolling of bells and knew that the 
end had come. 

On the afternoon of that day the Vice-Presi¬ 
dent, Theodore Roosevelt, took the oath of 
office and became President of the United 
States. His first official act was to issue a 
proclamation appointing “September the nine¬ 
teenth, the day in which the body of the dead 
President will be laid in its last earthly resting- 
place, as a day of mourning and prayer through¬ 
out the United States.” 



THE STORY OF A RESOLUTE PRESIDENT, 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 








. » 
J 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 















The Story of a Resolute President. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


i. 

POLITICAL PARTIES. 

Long, long years ago, when this country 
was all a dense wilderness; when the wild 
Indians knew nothing of civilization, but 
roamed at will in the forests and the swamps, 
people from England and other foreign coun¬ 
tries began to come to this country. 

They first settled along the Atlantic coast, 
and in one decade, from 1630 to 1640, about 
twenty thousand people came and settled in one 
State,—the State of Massachusetts,—which was 
then called the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. 

These people were called Puritans, and they 
suffered great hardships in the settlement of 
the “ New World.” 

In the middle of this decade, that is, in 1635, 

155 



156 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


there came an active young man named Moses 
Cleveland. This man became the ancestor of 
the subject of this sketch, who became Presi¬ 
dent of the United States. 

When Moses Cleveland came to Massachu¬ 
setts, there were no large cities in the country 
—only a few villages situated along the coast. 
All the vast country westward to the Pacific 
Ocean was unknown. The men had to go 
into the forests and clear the land and build 
little log-houses in which to live. 

Moses Cleveland did this, and by honest 
hard work soon made a snug little home for 
his family. He had children and grandchil¬ 
dren, and great-grandchildren, and so seven 
generations had passed when the future Presi¬ 
dent of the United States was born. 

In those early days there were no political 
parties, for the settlers were busy building 
log-cabins, fighting Indians, and planting their 
crops and clearing the land, but in due course 
of time, as the settlements grew and the popu¬ 
lation increased, a stronger government was 
formed, and political parties came into existence. 

There are many small political parties in the 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


157 


country, but only two very large ones—the 
Democratic and the Republican. The Demo¬ 
cratic Party is over a hundred years old, and 
its first President was Thomas Jefferson, who 
was elected in the year 1800. After him came 
James Madison, then Monroe, and others. 

From the time that Jefferson was elected, for 
sixty years the Democratic Party won in all 
the Presidential elections except two, when the 
Whig Party elected William Henry Harrison 
in 1840 and General Zachary Taylor in 1848. 

The Whig Party disappeared long ago, but 
in 1856 a new and very active party came into 
existence, which was called the Republican 
Party, and four years later it elected its first 
President, Abraham Lincoln, one of the great¬ 
est Presidents the United States has ever had. 

While Lincoln was President the civil war 
began, and a long and dreadful war it was, but 
it resulted in freeing the slaves, and reuniting 
more closely than ever the North and the 
South. From the close of the war until 1884 
the Republican Party elected their candidates 
for President, but in 1884 the Democratic Party 
again came into power by the election of 


53 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


Grover Cleveland, and in eight years there¬ 
after they succeeded in electing him for the 
second time President of the United States. 


II. 

CLEVELAND’S EARLY YEARS. 

The father of Grover Cleveland was a Pres¬ 
byterian minister, the Rev. Richard F. Cleve¬ 
land. He was a graduate of Yale College, 
and after he had served as pastor of a congre¬ 
gation in Connecticut and another in Virginia, 
he was called to a church at Caldwell, New 
Jersey, a small town situated not far from the 
city of Newark. The pastor who had served 
this church before Mr. Cleveland was Rev. 
Stephen Grover, an aged man whom every 
one loved as a father. 

The Rev. Mr. Cleveland had married a 
charming young woman from Baltimore, and 
when they arrived in Caldwell they had four 
children. A few years later a fifth child, a 
lovely little boy, was added to their family. 
This was in 1837, j ust two hundred and two 



GRO VER CLE VELAND. 15 9 

years after Moses Cleveland had come to Mas¬ 
sachusetts Bay. 

In due course of time the little fellow had 
to be named. The older children, who were 
very proud of their little brother, suggested 
many names, and many were given due con¬ 
sideration by the family before a name was 
finally decided upon. 

As the Rev. Stephen Grover, who preceded 
Mr. Cleveland in the Caldwell church, was very 
much beloved by all, the Clevelands decided 
to honor his name by naming the bright little 
boy after him. 

So he was named Stephen Grover Cleve¬ 
land. However, as he was always called 
Grover and never Stephen, he decided to drop 
the Stephen when he became older. This he 
did, and always signed his name Grover Cleve¬ 
land. 

The house in which Grover was born was a 
plain, old-fashioned one, two stories high, with 
tall trees in front of it and two acres of ground 
surrounding it. 

It was called the manse, or parsonage. The 
older children played on the sunny lawn with 


i6o 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


their baby brother, and the proud mother 
showed her pretty little boy to the neighboring 
women and told of his first steps and of the 
first teeth he cut, and repeated the first words 
he uttered, just as all fond mothers do. 

When little Grover was but four years old, 
his father was called from their New Jersey 
home to another church, at Fayetteville, in 
New York, only a few miles from the city of 
Syracuse. Fayetteville is in the midst of the 
Indian country of long ago. 

Many hundred years ago, long before the 
white man came from Europe, the Indians 
called the Iroquois, inhabited this land. Here 
they chased the deer and the wild fox, and 
paddled their canoes along the rivers. 

They engaged in wars with one another, and 
in the evenings they sat around in their wig¬ 
wams and told over and over again their 
stories of the chase or of their bravery in 
battle. 

But that time had passed long before the 
Clevelands came to the quiet little village. 
No longer could the curling smoke from the 
Indian camp-fires be seen on every hillside. 


GR O VER CLE VELAND. 161 

The white people had come and driven 
westward the wild Indian, and had occupied 
the land. They had built towns and school- 
houses and founded churches, and the Indians 
had moved further into the forest to continue 
their rude and simple life. 

The country around Fayetteville was very 
rich and very beautiful. The people, for the 
most part, were industrious, honest, religious, 
not rich and yet not very poor. No better 
place in the world could be found for a boy to 
grow up in. 

The journey of the Cleveland family from 
Caldwell to Fayetteville was a long and tire¬ 
some one. They crossed the Hudson River 
on a ferry to New York city, and from there 
they went up the Hudson on a boat to Albany. 

Little Grover was then four years old, and 
perhaps he remembered a little about this long, 
strange journey—how the great clumsy vessel 
carried them from the big city up the broad 
river, past the palisades, and in plain view of 
the Catskill Mountains. 

It must have seemed like moving to another 
world—this far-away land which he had never 
n 


162 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


seen. But the little boy must have been happy 
with his kind father, mother, brothers, and sis¬ 
ters. 

From Albany they proceeded to the town of 
Manlius, on the Erie Canal, in a boat that went 
six miles an hour. From there they went in 
wagons across the country, and reached Fay¬ 
etteville on a Saturday night at midnight. 


III. 

IN THE NEW HOME. 

For nearly ten years the Clevelands made 
their home in Fayetteville, and many a day 
little Grover strolled over the sunny fields and 
through the woods with his brothers or sisters 
in search of nuts and berries, listening to the 
wild birds or chasing the frisky squirrels. 

As he grew older he learned to fish in the 
brook, and no boy in all the country round 
about enjoyed the sport more than he did. 

No boy can ever forget the period of his life 
between four and fourteen, the time Grover 
Cleveland spent in this quiet village home. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 163 

This is a period when a boy is often as wild 
as the animals of the woods. He can run and 
jump and climb trees from morning until night 
and never seem to get tired. 

One of the games of that day was playing 
fox. One boy would be the fox and the others 
the dogs. The fox would start out as fast as 
he could run, and the dogs after him barking 
and yelping as loud as they could. Thus they 
would run over the hills and hollows, leaping 
the fences and streams, until they almost forgot 
that they were boys and thought they were real 
fox and hounds. 

One day the fox was so hard pressed by the 
howling dogs that he quickly climbed a tree. 
Then the dogs said that was not fair, because 
foxes never climb trees; but the fox answered, 
“ Well, I couldn’t find a hole to run into and I 
didn’t want to be caught.” 

But a boy’s life cannot be all play if he is to 
become a useful man. Grover was a happy, 
playful boy, but he loved to study also and 
one of the greatest joys of his life was to be 
admitted to the Fayetteville academy. 

The academy stood just across the street 


164 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


from his father’s home. But at first he went to 
a little red district school. But Grover was not 
satisfied here, and he begged his father again 
and again to permit him to enter the academy. 
“Wait until you are older, my boy,” said Mr. 
Cleveland. 

Grover could hardly wait. As he saw the 
boys and girls go in and out of the academy 
each day he thought they were the most favored 
people in the world, and he longed to be one 
of them. 

At length his father said he might try, and 
he entered the school at the age of eleven 
years. He was the youngest pupil in the 
school. It was not very long until he knew 
all the boys and girls and he became very pop¬ 
ular among them. He was not very large for 
his age, but he was strong and robust, and fond 
of all sorts of sports and games. 

One night he and his brother played an 
amusing trick on the people of the town. It 
was late at night, when suddenly the old bell 
in the academy tower set up a wild ringing— 
no one knew why. 

The doors and windows had been closed and 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 165 

locked for the night, as every one knew. What 
could it mean ? 

The people rushed out of their houses into 
the streets. They gathered around the academy 
building. The doors were locked, but clang, 
clang, clang! went the bell. How it happened 
no one knew. 

At last the two Cleveland boys were found 
in a tree near by. They had a thin rope at¬ 
tached to the tongue of the bell and sat in the 
tree and jerked the bell vigorously. The people 
laughed and agreed it was a good joke. 

Grover was not only foremost in sports, but 
was foremost in his classes. Indeed, he was 
so fond of his books that sometimes he forgot 
to go out to play. 

He learned Greek and Latin and other things 
so rapidly that it was not long until his teachers 
pronounced him the brightest boy in the school, 
as well as the most industrious. 

His intention was to enter college as soon as 
he had finished the course at the academy; but 
things were not always to run so smoothly. 

The father of Grover was not in good health 
and the family was large. Other children had 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


166 

come, and there were now nine in the family, 
and Mr. Cleveland found it difficult to earn 
enough to keep them all. 

It was, therefore, decided that the older boys 
should earn something toward the living. One 
of the deacons in the church, who kept a store, 
offered to give Grover a position in the store, 
and the offer was accepted. 

He had attended the academy scarcely a year 
when he was obliged to stop school for the time 
and go to work in the store. This he did with 
a sad heart, for he was very anxious to acquire 
a good education. 

But he did not stop his studies altogether. 
He studied in the evenings and often at the 
store when he had a few minutes to spare. He 
studied his school-books and read any other 
good book he could get. 

He continued in the store for over a year, 
when other and more important changes’came 
into his life. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


167 


IV. 

A SAD CHAPTER. 

In 1851, after spending ten years at Fayette¬ 
ville, Grover’s father moved to Clinton, New 
York, and became a traveling missionary. 
About the time of the moving Grover made a 
long journey alone to visit his uncle, a Mr. 
Allen, who lived near Buffalo, where he owned 
a large stock-farm. 

Grover was greatly delighted with the home 
of his rich uncle, with the good fishing near by, 
and was much interested in the many kinds of 
cattle kept by his uncle. 

He remained five or six weeks, when he re¬ 
turned to his new home at Clinton. It is said 
that his money was so near gone that he could 
not pay his way back home; but as he was too 
proud to ask his uncle for money, he made his 
way by working along the canal. 

As he was only fourteen years old, he must 
have been a very plucky boy to make this trip 
alone. Now it seemed at last that he would 
be able to gratify his ambition to get a good 
education. 


i68 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


There was a college at Clinton, as well as a 
preparatory school. Grover at once entered 
the preparatory school, and began to study 
with the same vigor he had shown at the acad¬ 
emy in Fayetteville. 

He outran his class, and was ready to be 
examined for college before he was old enough 
to enter according to the rules of the college. 

He could not enter the college while under 
age, as he had entered the academy at Fayette¬ 
ville, and while he was waiting to grow older, 
the same gentleman who had employed him at 
Fayetteville wrote Mr. Cleveland and offered 
to take Grover back in the store. 

It was decided that he should go, and so he 
did. He remained there for two years. The 
first year he received fifty dollars, and the sec¬ 
ond year one hundred dollars. 

During these two years the young clerk 
studied at odd times, intending to enter col¬ 
lege as soon as he returned to his home. 

At the end of this time he gave up his posi¬ 
tion in the store and returned to his father’s 
house at Clinton, a strong, manly boy of six¬ 
teen years, ready to enter college. But alas! 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


169 


his father s health had failed rapidly, and he 
was now forced to give up his work as a travel¬ 
ing missionary. 

He then became pastor of a little church in 
a small village near Utica. The name of this 
little village was Holland Patent. 

One of his older sons was now in New York 
city, teaching in an institution for the blind. 
One of the daughters was married, and another, 
whose name was Mary, was soon to be mar¬ 
ried. 

One day, when they had been in their new 
home scarcely a month, Grover drove to the 
city of Utica with his sister Mary to make 
some purchases for 4 her wedding outfit. 

As they walked along the street they were 
met by a messenger who had been hastening 
to overtake them. He bore the shocking news 
that their father had died suddenly that morn¬ 
ing after they had left home. 

What a sad journey homeward young Grover 
and his sister Mary had that day! What a sad 
household was the Cleveland family when the 
beloved husband and father was taken away by 
death! 


70 


GROVER CLEVELAND . 


V. 

A YEAR IN THE GREAT CITY. 

The Cleveland family were left poor, and 
several of the children were too young to aid 
their mother in earning a living. But her kind 
friends in Fayetteville, Clinton, and Holland 
Patent purchased for her a home. This was a 
great relief, but it did not relieve the elder chil¬ 
dren from having to work to earn the living. 

This was a sad thing for Grover, for he had 
to give up his college course. 

One of the sons had a position in New York 
city, and it was decided that Grover should go 
and assist in teaching and to act as an account¬ 
ant in the institution with his brother. 

During the year that he remained in New 
York he learned much. Now he saw the great 
city, with all its wonders and its hurrying thou¬ 
sands along the streets. 

Here were the great mansions of the rich 
and the miserable dwellings of the poor and 
wretched. As he walked along the crowded 
streets there was no one to greet him in the 
vast throngs that hurried to and fro; there was 


GROVER CLE VELAND. I J I 

none who recognized this rustic boy from the 
country. 

Little did this boy then dream that the time 
would come when he would be welcomed in 
this vast city by the booming of cannon and 
the shouts and cheers of the multitude as the 
first citizen of the land, the President of the 
United States! 

He remained a year in the great city. His 
salary was small, and every dollar that could 
be spared was sent to his widowed mother. 
But he was not satisfied with his position. It 
offered him no opportunity to rise, and he was 
ambitious to be a man of importance and use¬ 
fulness in the world. 

He thought he would like to be a lawyer, 
but every place in the city seemed to be filled. 
Not an opening appeared for this ambitious 
youth. 

What could he do? He felt that he was 
wasting his time in a position that promised 
him nothing better for the future. He had 
read of the great West, and how it offered 
better opportunities to a young man than he 


172 GRO VER CLE VELAND. 

could find in the East. Ohio and Indiana 
were in those days considered western States. 

Grover looked over the map and determined 
to select some city and go there, if in his power, 
and make his fortune as best he could. 

In northern Ohio there was a city bearing 
his own name,—Cleveland,—and he decided 
to make his way to that city. But first, after 
giving up his position, he repaired to his 
mother’s home at Holland Patent for a visit. 


VI. 

STARTING OUT IN THE WORLD. 

Grover Cleveland was warmly welcomed 
in his home after being away for a year, but 
his mother was not able to help him on his 
way westward. She gave him a true mother’s 
advice and her sincerest blessing, and this is 
often worth more than money. 

Grover then went to an old friend of his 
father’s, a Mr. Townsend, and asked for the 
loan of twenty-five dollars to take him on his 
westward journey. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 


73 


Mr. Townsend not only had means, but a 
great kindly heart, and he was interested in a 
boy who was trying to do something for him¬ 
self. He gave Grover the money, and re¬ 
quested him not to pay it back, but at some 
future time, when he became a successful man, 
to give it to some other boy who was trying to 
get up in the world. 

With a brave heart Grover set out for Cleve¬ 
land, although he knew no one in that city. 
But he had faith in the future, and he fully 
believed that if he never gave up he would 
succeed in the end. His hope was to get a 
position in a law office, where he could study 
to be a lawyer. 

His journey was by way of Buffalo, and 
when he reached that city he decided to pay a 
short visit to his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. 
Allen, whom he had visited a few years before. 

He had no intention to ask his uncle for 
help, but only to pay him a very short visit. 
His uncle and aunt were delighted to see him. 

They began to question him about his inten¬ 
tions, and when they found out that he, a boy 
of scarcely eighteen years, was making his way 


174 GRO VER CLE VELAND. 

to the West alone, they were struck with his 
bravery and his ambition. 

“ Stop here, my boy,” said Mr. Allen. “ Buf¬ 
falo is quite as good a place as Cleveland. If 
you will stop here, I will find you a place.” 

Young Grover was greatly pleased at this 
turn his fortune had taken, and he decided to 
take the advice of his uncle. 

Mr. Allen was a wealthy and very influential 
man. He knew all the leading men in Buffalo. 
He had a large stock-farm on Grand Island, 
in the Niagara River, and his pride was to 
breed short-horned Durham cattle. 

It happened that just at this time he was 
working on a book called “ The American 
Short-Horn Herd Book,” and he was very 
much in need of some one to help him. 

He, therefore, offered to employ his young 
nephew for the summer,—it was now the 
spring of 1855,—saying that it would be time 
enough to find a position in a law office in the 
fall. Grover accepted the offer, and he was 
soon hard at work for his uncle. 

Five months he spent in this pleasant em- 


GROVER CLEVELAND . 


175 


ployment, and most of the sixty dollars it 
brought him was sent to his mother. 

The employment itself was not so pleasant, 
for it was hard work; but the home was a 
delightful one, and the young man had a good 
deal of time to himself for hunting and read¬ 
ing. And, further, he was delighted that his 
uncle had promised to find him a place in 
some law office in Buffalo. 

Mr. Allen knew all the lawyers in the city, 
and before the summer was over he was so 
pleased with his young nephew that he was 
willing to recommend him to any one. 

Mr. Allen now went to the city, to a leading 
lawyer named Rogers, and asked him if he did 
not want a boy in his office. Mr. Rogers said 
he was always interested in smart boys, but 
he did not need any at that time. 

Mr. Allen informed him that his young kins¬ 
man, who was staying at his house, was a very 
bright, ambitious boy, and was very anxious to 
become a lawyer. 

Mr. Rogers now became interested, and, 
pointing to a table in the corner of his office, 
said, “ We do not need a boy, but there is a 


176 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


table, let him come in and try, if he wishes to. ,, 
Thus, through his uncle’s recommendation, 
Grover secured his place without seeing his 
employers. 


VII. 

IN THE LAW OFFICE. 

Grover Cleveland was soon at his desk in 
the law office. At first he received no pay, and 
later only four dollars a week for two whole 
years. 

This is often the experience of young men 
getting a start in life. They must frequently 
suffer hardships and privations which almost 
always is the best thing for them. 

Grover was fortunate in having a kind- 
hearted uncle, who kept him in clothes and 
gave him his board for the little he could do 
evenings on another book Mr. Allen was get¬ 
ting out. 

Every morning and evening Grover walked 
from his uncle’s home to the office in the city, 
over a rough road of two miles. Sometimes 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 


1 77 


the road was drifted high with snow-banks and 
at other times the mud was so deep that he 
could hardly get along. But he was always at 
the office on time and ready for work. 

One day, soon after he went into the office, 
Mr. Rogers came and threw a copy of Black- 
stone’s “Commentaries” on Grover’s table and 
said, “That’s where they all begin.” Black- 
stone’s “Commentaries” is a large and very 
difficult work on law that all law students are 
obliged to master. 

What Grover’s thoughts were when the great 
volume was put before him we do not know. 
It must have seemed like a mountain to over¬ 
come. 

He opened the volume and began to read. 
Now, many a young man with less courage 
might have read a little while and then put the 
book aside until another time. 

What did Grover Cleveland, the future Presi¬ 
dent of the United States, do ? We shall see. 
As he read page after page he became so inter¬ 
ested that he forgot everything else. Hour 
after hour passed, and Grover was still reading, 
still delving into Blackstone. 

12 


i 7 8 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


Evening came, and the men in the building 
locked the doors and went home, without notic¬ 
ing him. Grover was still reading, and when 
at last he came to himself he found he was 
locked in and alone. 

Mr. and Mrs. Allen were very uneasy when 
Grover did not get home for dinner. They 
waited until late in the night, and yet he did 
not come. They did not understand it, for 
they knew the young man had no bad habits 
and could not have gone with evil companions. 

It is said that when he found himself locked 
in the building and had no way of getting out, 
he quietly went back to his books and read all 
night. 

When Mr. Allen discovered how it happened 
he was delighted that his young nephew was 
so eager to learn his profession. Mr. Rogers 
said : “ That boy will succeed ; he is made of 

the right kind of stuff.” 

Many a boy will slight his work and his 
studies and get through as easy as he can. But 
such boys never take the leading places when 
they become men. They may earn a living in 
a way, but they will never do anything great 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


1 79 


and never become known beyond their little 
sphere. 

If a boy wishes to become a useful man, he 
must be faithful to his work and his books 
while he is a boy. That does not mean that 
he must give up play. Oh, no! It often hap¬ 
pens that the boy who is best on the play¬ 
ground is also best at his books. Boys and 
girls who are fond of play are usually fond of 
work and study. 


VIII. 

AT LAST A LAWYER. 

After Grover Cleveland had spent two years 
in the office his usefulness to the firm was such 
that his salary was raised. He then decided to 
engage a room in a hotel in the city, instead of 
walking to his uncle’s every night. 

Here he would be near his work, and he felt 
that by being near his work he could do more 
and make better progress. He took a small 
room in the attic, where he would have a quiet 
place for study and not have to pay a high 
rent. 



i8o 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


It happened that the hotel was much patron¬ 
ized by cattle-dealers from all over the country, 
and when these men came, they were sure to 
make the acquaintance of the young man who 
had helped to edit the “Short-Horn Herd 
Book.” In this way Grover made many friends 
who continued to be his friends for long years 
thereafter. 

Two years more passed away,—that is, four 
years since he began his course of study,— 
when young Cleveland was admitted to the 
bar. 

Thus he became an attorney at the age of 
twenty-two, and so faithful and well liked had 
he been in the Rogers firm that they now of¬ 
fered him a larger salary if he would remain 
with them. He accepted the offer of $600 a 
year at first, which was soon raised to $ 1000 , 
and he remained with the firm. 

It is not an easy thing for a young lawyer 
of limited means to build up a practice of his 
own. Frequently a young man will begin with 
an old firm and continue with it until he is 
master of the business and learns to know a 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


great many people. Then he is ready to launch 
out for himself. 

So it is in any business. The beginner is 
not the one to do great things. He must 
usually begin at the bottom and work faith¬ 
fully for years. But if he is persevering, faith¬ 
ful, and honest, success is sure to come at last. 

So it was with Grover Cleveland. He was 
one of the most painstaking, diligent, and trust¬ 
worthy young men that could be found any¬ 
where. He felt that he would surely succeed, 
and so he did, in a high degree, as we shall 
see later in our story. One of the men with 
whom he worked at this time wrote thus about 
him: 

“Grover won our admiration by his three 
traits of character, industry, courage, honesty. 
I never saw a more thorough man in anything 
he undertook.” 

Mr. Cleveland soon came to the front among 
the young lawyers in Buffalo. How proud and 
happy his fond mother must have been when 
she saw how nobly her son was succeeding, 
and how happy and grateful Grover must have 
been when he sent her a portion of his salary 


182 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


to keep her and her younger children from 
want. 

Mr. and Mrs. Allen were also proud of their 
nephew, to whom they had given aid when he 
most needed it. 

During the first years of Mr. Cleveland’s life 
as a voter the whole country was stirred with 
political feeling. 

In 1858 the two great leaders, Abraham 
Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglass, held their 
great slavery debate in Illinois, known as the 
Lincoln-Douglass debates, and two years later 
—in i860—each became the candidate of his 
party for President of the United States. 

Almost every one took sides in politics that 
famous year. When the whole country was at 
boiling-point, no one could stand aside and 
take no part and say that he was neither a 
Democrat nor a Republican. 

It seemed very natural that Mr. Cleveland 
would be a Republican, for he had lived for 
two years in the family of his uncle, who was 
a very decided Republican. But Grover was 
very independent. He could not be a Demo¬ 
crat or a Republican because his relatives or 


GR O VER CLE VELAND. I 8 3 

friends belonged to either one or the other of 
the great political parties. 

After due consideration of the great questions 
which agitated the people he chose to be a 
Democrat. 

When Grover became of age he took an 
active part in the elections. He was not an 
office-seeker or a politician, but he felt it to be 
his duty to take part in public affairs. 

On election day he went to the polls and 
handed out tickets to the voters and made 
himself useful in any way he could. 

When the great contest and the election of 
i860 had been decided, it was found that Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln had been elected President of the 
United States. 

Then came the great war. Some of the 
Southern States declared that they would not 
remain longer in the Union because the people 
had elected a President who was not a friend 
of slavery. 

President Lincoln would not permit these 
States to leave the Union, but they determined 
to go, and they fired on Fort Sumter in 
Charleston Harbor. Then President Lincoln 


184 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


called for volunteers to put down the rebellion 
and save the Union. 

Mr. Cleveland was not the man to become 
surly because his party did not win in the elec¬ 
tion. No good citizen will do that, for when a 
President is elected, he is President of the 
whole people and not merely of his own party. 

So thought Grover Cleveland. He loved 
the Union, and thought it the duty of every 
good citizen to help save it. When Mr. Lin¬ 
coln’s call came for volunteers he believed it 
his duty to respond to the call. 

There were four Cleveland brothers. The 
oldest one had followed in the footsteps of their 
father and had become a minister. The other 
three now conferred about the war, and it was 
decided among them that two of them should 
answer the President’s call and go to the war, 
while the other one should remain at home to 
care for their mother and the younger children. 

Since Grover was earning more than either 
of the others, it was agreed that he should 
continue his law practice while the other two 
went to the war. 

Grover’s two brothers, therefore, whose names 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


185 


were Richard and Frederick, served through the 
war, while Grover remained at home and sent 
money as he could spare it to their mother. 


IX. 

ASSISTANT DISTRICT-ATTORNEY. 

As before stated, it is usually a long and 
tedious business for a young lawyer to build 
up a good practice. Mr. Cleveland at first 
worked on a salary, but he now was practising 
his profession on his own account. 

At first he had little opportunity to display 
whatever powers he may have possessed. The 
cases that came to him were usually small and 
unimportant ones, but these he handled with 
the utmost care and industry. 

At length an assistant district-attorney was 
wanted. There were several young lawyers in 
the city who became candidates for the position, 
and each one worked hard to secure it. 

Mr. Cleveland was also spoken of for the 
place, although he was not a candidate and did 
not ask for the position. But the men who 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 


186 

knew him declared he was the best fitted of 
all the candidates for the position, because the 
most industrious and faithful to duty. 

Grover was appointed to the office, although 
he had not been a candidate and neither did 
he make any effort to secure the position. 

The district-attorney was in very poor health, 
and lived in a village some miles from the city, 
so most of the work of the office fell to the 
assistant. 

Mr, Cleveland thus found himself suddenly 
confronted with a great deal of hard work in 
a very responsible position. Then it was that 
his working powers came out as never before. 

His friends feared he would break down his 
health, and they often invited him out to dine, 
thinking they would in this way get him away 
from his work for a little while, but he declined 
nearly every invitation and stuck to his work 
day and night. 

One man who knew him well wrote of him a 
few years later: “ He was the most industri¬ 
ous man I ever knew in any department of life. 
Time after time he would remain in his office, 
working all night.” 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


37 


In 1863 the President found it necessary to 
refill the armies of the United States by means 
of the draft, and when the draft-roll was called 
in Buffalo, the very first name drawn from the 
box was the name of Grover Cleveland. 

What could be done ? He loved his country 
and he was not a coward, but his mother was a 
widow and he was her main support. She had 
two sons already in the war. Could she spare 
another ? 

Grover thought not, so he engaged a substi¬ 
tute to go in his place. His earnings were not 
large, so he was compelled to borrow the money 
to pay the substitute. 

Many people blamed Mr. Cleveland for not 
answering the country’s call and for not going 
to the war himself, but many others believed 
he did right under the circumstances. 

In 1865 the term of his office expired and the 
Democrats nominated him for district attorney, 
as he had learned all about the business as 
assistant, and he was very popular, but the 
county was very strongly Republican, and 
though Mr. Cleveland ran ahead of his ticket, 
he was defeated. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


Mr. Cleveland was now very well known in 
the city as an able, industrious lawyer, and for 
the first time in his life he was in a position to 
earn a good salary. 

He now formed a partnership with another 
lawyer. But this partnership did not last long, 
and he formed another with two prominent 
lawyers named Laning and Folsom. 

The new firm had all the business it could 
do from the beginning, and Mr. Cleveland was 
soon earning money as he never did before. 
But he never made it his chief business to get 
rich. 

One of his partners says that Cleveland did 
not know how to charge a rich client. He 
would name a small fee where most lawyers 
would name a large one. Another thing, he 
•would often take the case of a poor man or 
woman and pay the expenses of the trial him¬ 
self, so that he was not only without a fee, but 
out of pocket for the expenses. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


X. 

SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY. 

In 1870 the Democrats were very anxious 
to find a good man to be their candidate for 
sheriff of the county, and they turned to Mr. 
Cleveland. He did not desire the nomination, 
but they gave it to him without his consent. 

At first he was inclined to refuse to run for 
sheriff, but when the party leaders explained 
to him that they were greatly in need of such 
a man and they believed he could win where 
no one else could, he consented to run. 

His friends had more confidence in his win¬ 
ning powers than he himself had, but when the 
election came, Mr. Cleveland was elected. 

As sheriff, Cleveland showed great strength 
of character. Before his election it had been 
the custom to give out contracts to certain 
favored ones, but Sheriff Cleveland gave them 
to the lowest bidders, and thus saved the tax¬ 
payers a good sum of money. 

This course displeased many of the politi¬ 
cians of both parties, but the sheriff was not 


I90 GRO VER CLE VELAND. 

trying to please the politicians; he determined 
to do right and serve the people honestly. 

Mr. Cleveland’s term as sheriff lasted three 
years, and as the office was a good-paying one, 
he found himself several thousand dollars 
ahead at the end of the term. 

But the chief result of this public service 
was that Mr. Cleveland became well known 
throughout the city and county as a very 
honest and a very courageous man. 

While Mr. Cleveland was sheriff he received 
an item of news from the sea that was very sad 
indeed. His two brothers who went to the 
war and who had served their country faith¬ 
fully on the field of battle had, after their 
return, gone to Bermuda to keep a hotel; but 
one day, when they were at sea on the steamer 
“Missouri,” the vessel caught fire and was 
destroyed. Among the passengers that per¬ 
ished were the two brothers of Grover Cleve¬ 
land. 

He then made a sad journey to the Ber¬ 
mudas to settle up the affairs of his brothers, 
and this, it is said, is the only sea-voyage that 
Mr. Cleveland ever took. 


GRO VER CLE VELAND. 191 

Mr. Cleveland returned to his law practice 
after he ceased to be sheriff, but his old prac¬ 
tice was gone and his firm broken up. So he 
had to begin anew, but it was not long until 
he was again busy enough. But, as previously 
stated, he did not make money very rapidly 
because he was too generous. 

One day a poor woman came to him with a 
pitiful story. She informed him that her hus¬ 
band was ill and not able to work, and that a 
mortgage on their home for $1400 had fallen 
due; that they had no money, not even enough 
to pay the interest on the mortgage, nor any 
way of getting any, and the person who held 
the mortgage wanted his money and threat¬ 
ened to foreclose it unless the money was 
forthcoming. 

Mr. Cleveland listened to her story patiently 
and then said: 

“ Madam, sit here in my office until I come 
back. I will fix the matter for you.” 

Then he went to the bank, drew out $1400 
of his own money, and went and paid the 
mortgage. What a generous act for a person 


192 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


whom he had never seen until that day! But 
that was Grover Cleveland. 

Another thing must here be mentioned. It 
will be remembered that when Mr. Cleveland 
was a boy and just starting on his westward 
journey he borrowed $25 from an old friend, 
Mr. Townsend, who told him he need not pay 
the money back at all—that he might hand it 
to some other ambitious boy some time. 

Mr. Cleveland not only paid it in this way 
many times over, but he also paid the money 
back to Mr. Townsend. 

Many years after he had borrowed the 
money he wrote to his generous friend as 
follows: 

“ I am now in condition to pay my note 
which you hold. I have forgotten the date of 
the note. If you will send me the note, I will 
mail you the principal and interest. 

“ The loan you made me was my start in 
life, and I shall always preserve the note as an 
interesting reminder of your kindness/’ 


GROVER CLEVELAND . 


193 


XI. 

A VERY HEROIC MAYOR. 

The city government of Buffalo, it was 
claimed, was very corrupt. The men who ran 
the city thought more of private gain than of 
serving the people’s interests. They gave out 
contracts for public works to their favorites at 
very high figures, and the tax-payers had to 
foot the bills. 

The people were getting very tired of this 
sort of business. On the street-corners, in 
their homes and offices, the common talk of 
the people was the high taxes caused by a 
corrupt city government. 

Something had to be done. A new mayor 
was to be elected, and if an honest and a 
courageous man could be elected, he would 
do much to break up the ring of corrupt office¬ 
holders. 

The Democrats turned to Mr. Cleveland. 
“Here is the man,” they said, “who will re¬ 
deem our city if any man can.” When the 
convention met, Mr. Cleveland was not pres¬ 
ent. He was in court conducting a trial. 

13 


94 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


His name was used without his consent, and 
the first he knew of his nomination was when 
a messenger came into court and informed him 
that he was nominated for mayor of the city. 

He went with the messenger to the conven¬ 
tion hall, and in a few modest words indicated 
that he would accept the honor, after which he 
returned to the court-house to finish the trial. 

A short time after this Mr. Cleveland wrote 
a letter of acceptance which was published in 
the papers. In this he showed how the people 
had been robbed by some of the dishonest 
officials, and declared that the business of the 
city should be managed with the same care 
and economy as a man’s private business. 

In this letter he promised to serve the people 
faithfully and honestly if elected, and every 
man and woman in the city who knew Grover 
Cleveland believed him. 

The city of Buffalo was Republican by a large 
majority, but many honest Republicans believed 
that Cleveland was the right man to put at the 
head of the city government, and they voted 
for him. 

Mr. Cleveland was elected, and his term be- 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


195 


gan in January, 1882. His first message to the 
city council pointed out that the city officials, or 
office-holders, were the servants of the people; 
that they held the people’s money in trust, and 
that they should be honest with it as any man 
should be in handling the money of his 
neighbor. 

He also pointed out that there had been great 
mismanagement in the city government, with 
“shameful neglect of duty” and “the wasting 
of the people’s money.” 

“A new prophet among us,” said the people 
when they read this message. Others said, 
“An honest man at last; the city will be re¬ 
deemed.” 

But more than half the city council belonged 
to the old set and opposed the new mayor. 

One of them rose in his seat while the mes¬ 
sage was being read and moved that such a 
paper be not read in their presence. But the 
others preferred to hear it all, and so it was 
read in full. 

In a very short time after the new mayor took 
his seat he came in conflict with the council. 

One of the first reforms was in regard to 


196 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


public printing. It had been the custom to 
give the printing to certain favored ones at a 
much higher price than it was worth. 

But Mr. Cleveland changed this and let out 
the contract for printing to the lowest bidder. 
In this way he saved the city about one-half of 
the amount which had been paid for this work 
before. 

Next he vetoed a bill to pay $800 a year each 
to certain German newspapers for printing the 
doings of the council. A veto is a disapproval, 
a refusing to sign a bill passed by the body that 
makes the laws. 

The city council believed that the mayor 
would not veto this measure for fear of offend¬ 
ing the German citizens of the city. But he did 
so, declaring that the expense was not neces¬ 
sary, and the council had not a majority large 
enough to pass the bill over his veto. 

The Germans were not offended, for they saw 
that the mayor was right, and they did not want 
to pay taxes that were not needful. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


I 9 7 


XII. 

VETOES AND TRIUMPHS, 

It happened that the city of Buffalo was 
greatly in need of a large sewer to drain certain 
parts of the city that were very unhealthy and 
where the death-rate was very high. 

A bid to do the work for $1,568,000 had come 
in from a favored contractor, and the council 
was about to let the contract to this man. But 
behold! they didn’t, for there stood the heroic 
mayor in the way. 

Mayor Cleveland saw that if the scheme was 
carried through it would rob the people of a 
great many thousand dollars, and he deter¬ 
mined -to defeat it. 

He suggested that the entire work be given 
into the hands of a commission of five citizens 
who were known for their honesty and public 
spirit, and that the contract be given to the 
lowest bidder. 

What an astonishing suggestion! A vast 
sum to be spent and the politicians to have no 
hand in doing it! Oh, no! they would listen to 
no such a thing. They were in politics for the 


198 GROVER CLEVELAND. 

purpose of giving out just such contracts, and 
they would not consent to have this fine con¬ 
tract taken out of their hands. 

But there stood the mayor like a stone wall, 
and they could do nothing. The law required 
that the committee should be appointed by the 
mayor and approved by the council. 

The council was angry, and promptly voted 
against confirmation of the five men whom the 
mayor had appointed, although they were the 
most trusted men in Buffalo. 

Mayor Cleveland waited a week, and then 
sent in again to the council the names of the 
same five men, which the council at last very 
reluctantly confirmed. The bids were opened 
for the new sewer, and instead of paying out 
over a million dollars, as the council intended 
to do, the work was done for about one-half of 
that amount. 

The mayor thus upset all the plans of the 
politicians and saved the tax-payers over 
$800,000. 

Another case nearly equal to this came up 
about the same time. The council voted to 
give the contract for cleaning the streets to a 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


I99 


man for a period of five years at a sum far in 
excess for what others would do it for, and the 
mayor promptly vetoed the bill in a message 
which became known as his “Plain Speech” 
message. He said: 

“This is a time for plain speech. I withhold 
my assent from this bill because I regard it as 
a most bare-faced, impudent, and shameless 
scheme to betray the interests of the people, 
and to worse than squander the public money.” 

Again the council had to yield, and the con¬ 
tract was later given out for street-cleaning at 
a saving of one hundred and nine thousand 
dollars a year for tl\e city. 

Grover Cleveland was now becoming known 
over the State and in other parts of the country 
as the great reform mayor of Buffalo. 

The people of Buffalo spoke of him with 
pride and seemed to feel a pity for other cities 
that could not boast such a man in the mayor’s 
chair. 

This city council, while it did many acts 
which the mayor could not approve, did, all 
unconsciously, one noble service for the mayor. 
It caused the reputation of Grover Cleveland 


200 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


to extend far beyond the bounds of Buffalo, 
as one of the most heroic and honest men that 
ever entered public life in the United States. 


XIII. 

GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK STATE. 

All that has been related about Grover 
Cleveland as mayor occurred in the first half 
of the year 1882. In the autumn of that year, 
while he was still mayor, a governor of New 
York was to be elected. 

The State was in about the same condition 
as the city of Buffalo had been. 

The State had a good governor, Mr. Cornell, 
a Republican, and the people wanted him nomi¬ 
nated for a second term. But the politicians, 
the bosses, and the ringsters did not want him 
renominated because he was too much like Mr. 
Cleveland—independent and honest 

So they secured the nomination of Judge 
Folger, who was a member of President 
Arthur’s cabinet. Judge Folger was a very 
honorable man, but the people were angry at 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 


201 


the way Governor Cornell had been turned 
down against their wishes. 

A great many Republicans, therefore, came 
out against the ticket and declared they would 
not vote for Judge Folger. Now came the 
opportunity for the Democrats. 

If they should nominate a good, strong, hon¬ 
est man, he would get a great many Republi¬ 
can votes, and while they were looking for such 
a man, the people of Buffalo came forward and 
said, “We have such a man—our reform mayor, 
Grover Cleveland.” 

Then the people began to talk about Mr. 
Cleveland. His picture was printed in the 
newspapers, and a great deal was said about 
what a great work he had done for Buffalo. 

The Democratic convention met in Septem¬ 
ber, and Cleveland was nominated. Many 
thousands of Republicans now declared that 
they would join the Democrats and vote for 
Mr. Cleveland, the Buffalo lawyer and mayor, 
for governor. And they did, and Grover 
Cleveland was elected by the great majority 
of 192,000 votes. 

During the campaign Mr. Cleveland con- 


202 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


tinued in the mayor’s office and took no part 
in the canvass. After the election he was in¬ 
vited to attend a great banquet in his honor in 
New York city. 

No doubt as he entered the great city he 
thought of the time, many years before, when 
he was a humble, unknown assistant in the 
Asylum for the Blind. 

At this banquet Mr. Cleveland made a speech 
that was read far and wide throughout the 
country. In it he said: 

“ My only aspiration is to faithfully perform 
the duties of the office to which the people of 
my State have called me. If we retain the 
people’s confidence, we must deserve it, and 
we may be sure they will call on us to give 
an account of our stewardship.” 

Cleveland became governor at the beginning 
of the year, just a year after he had become 
mayor of Buffalo, and he settled down to the 
hard work of the office. 

The mansion in which the governor lived 
was a mile away from the Capitol, and he 
walked from one to the other several times a 
day. The people observed this, and they soon 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


203 


remarked that “This new governor is a right 
down hard-working man. He doesn’t make 
any fuss about it, either. Doesn’t seem to have 
any use for carriages. He walks.” 

He was very pleasant to the people he met 
and spoke very kindly to them. His unassum¬ 
ing manner soon won the respect, if not the 
affections, of the people. 

Another thing that pleased the people was 
what the new governor said to the attendants 
of his house: “Admit any one who wants to see 
the governor.” Like Lincoln, he was a man 
of the people, and instead of withdrawing from 
them, he was pleased to meet the people and to 
have their suggestions concerning public affairs. 

Governor Cleveland proved to be as watchful 
for the interests of the State as Mayor Cleve¬ 
land had been for the interests of the city of 
Buffalo. 

He vetoed many bills that the Legislature 
sent to him because he thought they were not 
for the best interests of the State and people. 
But one that he vetoed in the spring of 1884 
astonished everybody, for this veto did not 
seem to be in the interests of the people. 


204 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


It was called the Five-Cent-Fare Bill. The 
Legislature passed a bill to force the Elevated 
Rail-Road Company of New York to reduce 
its fares from ten cents to five. It would seem 
that such a bill would be signed by any gov¬ 
ernor. 

Hundreds of thousands of people used the 
elevated road every day, and many of them 
were laboring-people who had little money. 
But Governor Cleveland vetoed the bill. 

Why did he do such a thing, apparently in 
the interests of a rich corporation and against 
the interests of the common people ? 

He explained in his veto message why he 
did so. He showed that for many years the 
people of New York wanted rapid transit, and 
that men who had money were timid and hesi¬ 
tating about building the road for fear it would 
not pay. 

He showed that the State had invited the 
confidence of the company, and now to reduce 
the fares by law would be a breach of faith 
with the company. 

He showed, too, that the interests of the 
stock-holders of the company must be pro- 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


205 


tected by law as well as the interests of the 
people who rode in the cars. 

This veto showed the great courage of Gov¬ 
ernor Cleveland. It showed that he was not 
seeking popularity at all. It showed that his 
only aim was to do right and deal out justice 
to all classes. This veto made him many ene¬ 
mies, and yet he never regretted it. 

But other vetoes showed that the governor 
was not the champion of the corporations. He 
vetoed a bill to extend the privileges of gas¬ 
light companies and other similar ones. He 
also did what he could to bring about better 
treatment of the prisoners of the State. 


XIV. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1884. 

As the time for electing a President of the 
United States drew near the interests of both 
parties were awakened. For nearly twenty- 
four years the Republicans had controlled the 
Government, and now they were about to 
make a great effort to keep their hold on the 
country. 



206 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


New York, with its thirty-six electoral votes, 
was known as the pivotal State. The other 
States of the Union were so nearly balanced 
between the two parties that the votes of New 
York were likely to decide the contest. 

The President of the United States is not 
elected by a direct vote of the people. Each 
State has a certain number of electors, and the 
number is determined by the population which 
each State contains. 

Each State has as many electors as the State 
has Congressmen and United States Senators. 
The people choose the electors, and the elec¬ 
tors choose the President and Vice-President. 

In 1884 the State having the largest number 
of electors was New York, which had thirty- 
six, while the smallest number which any State 
had was three. 

Several States in 1884 had but three each. 
Both parties were very anxious to secure the 
electors of New York, for it was believed that 
they would decide the contest. 

When President Garfield was shot, Vice- 
President Arthur became President, and many 
Republicans wished to have him head the 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


20 7 


ticket, but the great defeat of Judge Folger, 
President Arthur’s friend and member of his 
Cabinet, led people to believe he could not 
carry the State of New York. 

Then there was another very strong obstacle 
in the way of Arthur’s nomination, which was 
the very able and popular Republican leader, 
James G. Blaine, of Maine. 

The friends of both Arthur and Blaine were 
very active until the convention met in Chicago 
in June, when Mr. Blaine was chosen and Gen¬ 
eral John A. Logan, of Illinois, was named for 
Vice-President. 

The Democratic Convention also met in 
Chicago the month after Blaine had been 
chosen by the Republicans. The name of 
Grover Cleveland had been talked of by the 
Democrats everywhere, but he had made many 
enemies in New York by his vetoes and also 
among the party men who had found that they 
could not control him. 

These men made a desperate effort to defeat 
him in the convention, but they did not suc¬ 
ceed. He was nominated on the second 
ballot. 


208 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


When the vote was announced, the cheering 
in the great convention hall was deafening, 
but the voices of the multitude were almost 
drowned by the tremendous roar of cannon 
from the outside. 

When the news reached Mr. Cleveland at 
Albany, is it any wonder if he thought of the 
little barefoot boy who had played in the 
streets of Fayetteville forty years before; who 
had entered the academy at the age of eleven 
years, and who had started for the West a few 
years later with hope in his breast, but with no 
knowledge of what the future would unfold ? 

For many hours after the news came to the 
governors office it was thronged with people 
who came to offer congratulations. Then the 
telegrams—a perfect torrent of them from all 
parts of the United States! In the evening a 
great throng of people gathered to offer their 
good wishes to the man who had been chosen 
a candidate to the great office. 

A few weeks later a committee from the con¬ 
vention, headed by Mr. Vilas, of Wisconsin, 
who had been president of the convention, 


GROVER CLEVELAXD. 


209 


came to Albany to notify Mr. Cleveland of his 
nomination. 

Many friends and relatives of the candidate 
were present, and among them were Mrs. Fol¬ 
som, widow of Mr. Cleveland’s former law 
partner, and her charming daughter Frances, 
who afterward became mistress of the White 
House at Washington. 

The campaign was a very exciting one, and 
when election day came to a close, the result 
seemed doubtful. New York was the State to 
decide the contest, as had been expected, and 
the vote in that State was so close that it took 
several weeks to decide whether James G. 
Blaine or Grover Cleveland had secured its 
electoral vote. 

At last the decision came. Cleveland had 
carried the State by a little over one thousand 
votes. This gave him 219 electoral votes to 
182 for Mr. Blaine. 

The great contest was over, and Grover 
Cleveland had been elected President of the 
United States. 


14 


210 


GROVER CLEVELAND . 


XV. 

THE WHITE HOUSE. 

The result of the election of 1884 seemed 
very strange when it was remembered that Mr. 
Blaine had been in Congress for many years, 
the leading man of his party, an attractive 
orator, and a statesman known all over the 
world. 

Mr. Cleveland was not an orator, he had 
never been in Congress, and never had been 
a leader of his party, and in fact only within a 
year or two had he been known outside of his 
own city of Buffalo. 

He was made President by the people be¬ 
cause they believed that a man of great honesty 
and great courage was needed at the helm of 
the ship of State, and they believed that Mr. 
Cleveland was just such a man. 

The inauguration on the fourth of March, 
1885, was a grand affair. The people came in 
thousands from all parts of the country to the 
city of Washington, and a vast crowd stood on 
the grounds of the Capitol to hear the inaugu¬ 
ral address. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 21 I 

When about to be sworn into the office, the 
Bible used for this purpose was produced. But 
Mr. Cleveland said no! and he took from his 
pocket a little well-worn Bible which his mother 
had given him when a boy, and on this he took 
the oath of office as President of the United 
States. 

The first bill which became a law by the 
President’s signature was an act to restore 
General Grant to the retired list of the army. 

Grant was growing old, and he had failed in 
a business venture in New York and was suf¬ 
fering from an incurable disease. The hearts 
of the people went out to the General, and they 
all felt grateful for this kind act of Congress 
and the President. 

President Cleveland followed the usual cus¬ 
tom, and chose his Cabinet just after his in¬ 
auguration. The Cabinet members are the 
President’s advisers to aid him in his labors 
in running the Government. 

One of the first things President Cleveland 
did after becoming president was to show him¬ 
self a friend of civil-service reform. The civil 
officers are those who are appointed by the 


212 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


President and serve the Government in various 
ways, as postmasters, letter-carriers, etc. 

It had been the practice for many years for a 
party which had been out of power, when it 
came into power again, to turn out all the civil- 
service officers and put in others who belonged 
to the party in power. 

Mr. Cleveland opposed this, and so did many 
other leading Democrats and Republicans. 
This practice has been changed by what is now 
known as civil-service reform, so that many of 
these officers are now kept in office as long as 
they do their work well, and not simply as long 
as their party is in power. 

One of the important measures that came 
before President Cleveland was the Dependent 
Pension Bill. Congress passed an act to give 
a pension to any old soldier who needed the 
money to live on, whether he had been wounded 
in the war or not. 

Mr. Cleveland thought that if a soldier was 
not disabled while serving in the war, he should 
not receive a pension, and he vetoed the bill. 

The most important of all the laws passed in 
the first term of President Cleveland’s adminis- 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


213 


tration was the Presidential Succession Law. 
This is a very important law to be remembered. 

The Constitution provides that if the Presi¬ 
dent dies or ceases to be President from any 
cause before his term is ended, the Vice-Presi¬ 
dent is to become President, and after him the 
President of the Senate. 

This arrangement was a very faulty one, for 
the reason that the President of the Senate 
might belong to a different party from the 
President of the United States, and should the 
President die and the President of the Senate 
become President of the United States, a party 
would come into power that had not been 
chosen by the people at the last election. 

Then, again, if the President and Vice-Presi¬ 
dent should both die and there was no Presi¬ 
dent of the Senate and Congress was not in 
session, there would be no President of the 
United States at all for a time. Now, while the 
people were contemplating this subject, Vice- 
President Hendricks suddenly died. 

At that time there was no President of the 
Senate, so there was but one life between the 
presidency and a lapse in the office. If Mr. 


214 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


Cleveland had died before Congress met, there 
would have been no one to succeed him. 

The new law provides that in the event of 
the death of the President and Vice-President 
the Secretary of State becomes President, and 
after him the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
after him other members of the Cabinet. 

Other important measures were the Inter- 
State Commerce Act and the Fisheries Act, 
which became laws during President Cleve¬ 
land’s first term in office. 


XVI. 

A WHITE HOUSE WEDDING. 

Grover Cleveland was a bachelor nearly 
forty-eight years old when he became Presi¬ 
dent of the United States. Only one Presi¬ 
dent before him had been unmarried, and that 
one was James Buchanan. 

Several times there had been marriages at 
the White House, but it was always the Presi¬ 
dent’s children or grandchildren who were 
married. Never before had a President been 
married while in office. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 


215 


The grand mansion in which he lived must 
have seemed very lonesome without a mis¬ 
tress. Soon rumors spread around that the 
President was going to get married, but who 
the fortunate lady was to be no one seemed 
to know. 

At length it was discovered that a young 
lady at Wellesley College often received hand¬ 
some flowers from the White House, and then 
it became known that she was to become the 
President’s bride. 

The young lady was Frances Folsom, and it 
was said of her that she was one of the most 
beautiful women in the country. 

Her father had been a partner in the law 
firm of Mr Cleveland in Buffalo, but he was 
killed in an accident in 1875, when Frances 
was but eleven years old. 

After Frances Folsom finished her education 
at Wellesley she and her mother made a tour 
of Europe, returning to the United States in 
the spring of 1886, and on June second of that 
year she became the bride of Grover Cleve¬ 
land. 

The marriage took place in the White 


2 l6 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


House, and the only guests were a few rela¬ 
tives and the members of the Cabinet with 
their families. 

Everybody welcomed the new mistress of 
the White House; she was so tactful, so kind 
and cordial to all, that she soon won the hearts 
of the people. 


XVII. 

THE NEXT ELECTION. 

Another presidential election came in the 
fall of 1888. The chief issue of the campaign 
—that is, the subject on which the two great 
parties differed most—was the tariff question. 

The American people have a very large trade 
with the people of other countries. We send 
to foreign countries what products we do not 
need, such as wheat, cotton, corn, and manu¬ 
factured articles, while the people of foreign 
countries send a great deal to us. 

A tariff is a certain duty, a price, put on for¬ 
eign products that come into this country. As 
an illustration, a foreigner having a piece of 
machinery valued at $1000 is compelled to pay 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 


21/ 


a duty of 50 per cent, of its value, or $500, for 
the privilege of selling it in this country. 

This he does by charging $1500 for it instead 
of $1000, so the one who purchases it must pay 
the duty. This makes the article higher in 
price to the consumer, but it puts money into 
the Treasury at Washington, and it is claimed 
that it helps the workingman by keeping up 
his wages. 

The Democratic Party has always, or at least 
for sixty years or more, been in favor of a 
low tariff, while the Republican Party favors 
a high one. 

When Mr. Cleveland became President we 
had a high tariff, and he was very much in 
favor of lowering it. In his annual message 
to Congress in 1887 he urged a lower tariff, 
and this was made the issue in the presidential 
campaign of 1888. 

The Republicans nominated General Har¬ 
rison, of Indiana, who was the grandson of 
General William H. Harrison, who was elected 
President in 1840. 

Mr. Cleveland was nominated by the Demo¬ 
cratic Party, and the contest was a lively one; 


218 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


but the people of the country were not so 
ready to have a low tariff as Mr. Cleveland. 
They feared that such a change might disturb 
business and lower the workingman’s wages, 
and the result of this feeling was that General 
Harrison was elected. 

Grover Cleveland’s first term as President 
came to an end on the fourth of March, 1889, 
and Mr. Harrison became President. Mr. 
Cleveland then moved to New York city and 
engaged in the practice of law. He had been 
a faithful and honest President, and was hon¬ 
ored by the people of the whole country. 

When the four years of Mr. Harrison’s ad¬ 
ministration had passed, the Democrats could 
think of no other person who would make so 
available a candidate as Grover Cleveland, and 
in 1892 he was nominated a third time for the 
office. 

It was a very great honor indeed to be nomi¬ 
nated three times for President. 

President Harrison was renominated by the 
Republicans, and again the chief issue was the 
tariff question. Two years before this election 
the Republicans had enacted a tariff law, known 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


219 


as the McKinley Tariff, because Mr. McKinley, 
who afterward became President, was the 
author of it. 

The McKinley Tariff raised the duties on 
foreign goods to a higher point than ever 
before, and the prices of nearly everything rose 
at the same time. This was a blow to the 
Republicans, for the people believed that the 
rise in price was caused by the high tariff. 

The election in November brought a great 
victory to Cleveland. There had not been so 
sweeping a victory in the country for either 
party in twenty years. 

Mr. Cleveland was the first President to be 
elected to a second term which did not imme¬ 
diately follow the first. 


XVIII. 

THE SECOND TERM. 

Now again, after four years of absence, Mr. 
Cleveland and his family moved to the White 
House. The President and his charming wife 
seemed more gracious than ever. 



220 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


They had been a great deal in society during 
the four years they were out of the White 
House, and those people whose good fortune 
it was to enjoy their hospitality were greatly 
pleased with their charming personality. 

Their reoccupancy of the White House was 
a great and glorious affair, for Grover Cleve¬ 
land felt justly proud of the great honor be¬ 
stowed upon him by the American people. 

From being a barefoot boy fishing in the 
brooks around Fayetteville, he rose to be 
twice President of our great nation; and 
such an honor comes to but few of the 
many millions of American citizens. 

Among the many important matters which 
came up for settlement during the second ad¬ 
ministration was the Hawaiian Island affair. 

Hawaii was a little monarchy in the Pacific 
Ocean, about twenty-one hundred miles from 
the coast of California. The ruler was a Queen 
whose name was Liliuokalani. 

Early in the year 1893 a party on the islands, 
mostly Americans or the descendants of Ameri¬ 
cans, rose against the government and drove 
the Queen from the throne. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


221 


They then took control of the government 
and asked the United States to assume control 
of the islands. 

President Harrison and nearly all the Ameri¬ 
can people favored doing this, and a treaty was 
made and sent to the Senate. But before the 
Senate could act, Mr. Harrison went out of 
office and Cleveland again became President. 

He was not in favor of annexing Hawaii to 
the United States, because he said we had no 
right to do this without the consent of the 
people of the islands. 

He withdrew the treaty from the Senate and 
allowed the inhabitants to govern themselves. 

Most of the American people were surprised 
at this action, but when they studied into the 
matter more carefully, they saw r that the Presi¬ 
dent was right—that we had no right to annex 
a foreign people without their consent. 

Our nation is a very great and strong one, 
but we should never impose on smaller and 
weaker nations on that account. This was the 
stand the President took on Hawaiian affairs. 

The inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands gov¬ 
erned themselves until, by due process of law, 


222 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


they were annexed in July, 1898, to the United 
States. 

Another very important act which occurred 
in 1893 was the repealing of the Sherman Silver 
Law, which was done at a special session of 
Congress. 

The President was elected on the tariff issue, 
and in order to carry out the pledges which the 
party had made to the people during the cam¬ 
paign, the Democrats passed a tariff law, called 
the Wilson Tariff, because it was introduced 
by a Congressman by that name from West 
Virginia. 

This tariff law lowered the duties of the 
McKinley Tariff very much, but a few years 
later the Republicans came into power again, 
and another tariff bill was passed, called the 
Dingley Tariff, several parts of which will 
probably be changed at no distant day. 

Another very important affair happened in 
1894, which received prompt and courageous 
action at the hands of the President. 

A strike of laboring men in Chicago oc¬ 
curred, and with the strike a riot, and so 
threatening did the rioters become that the 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


223 


President sent United States troops to Chi¬ 
cago to put it down. 

The Governor of Illinois sympathized with 
the strikers and rioters, and was opposed to 
the President sending troops until he, the Gov¬ 
ernor, asked for national aid in accordance 
with the provisions of the constitution. 

But the President claimed that the rioters 
were interfering with the mails and with com¬ 
merce, and that it was his duty to suppress it, 
and he resolutely and without fear sent the 
troops into Chicago and restored order again. 

In December, 1895, the country was startled 
and the whole world astonished at the famous 
and resolute message that President Cleveland 
sent to Congress regarding the Venezuelan 
boundary dispute between Great Britain and 
Venezuela. 

There was a boundary dispute between 
Venezuela and British Guiana which had con¬ 
tinued for many years. They could not agree 
just where the boundary line between them 
should be. 

Our Government then asked them to arbi¬ 
trate—that is, to appoint a committee to settle 


224 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


on the line in dispute, and both countries 
accept the committee’s conclusions. Vene¬ 
zuela was willing to do this, but England 
refused. 

In accordance with our Monroe Doctrine no 
European country can take territory that be¬ 
longs to any of the Central or South American 
States. 

This nation, by the Monroe Doctrine, wishes 
to protect the weaker countries south of us 
from the encroachments of European powers, 
for it is feared that if they secured a foot-hold 
in Central or South America, in addition to 
what some of the countries now possess, they 
would build forts and become threatening to 
our peace and safety. 

This nation was not willing, therefore, that 
England should take any of Venezuela’s terri¬ 
tory, and when England refused to arbitrate, 
we had to interfere. 

England had for many years refused to con¬ 
sent to arbitration, so at last this nation had to 
accept the situation, and in plain language the 
message meant that England must either con¬ 
sent to arbitration or fight. 


GROVER CLEVELAND. 


225 

It meant war if England did not yield, but 
to the joy of all, England did yield, and a great 
and dreadful war was averted. 

I he President knew what a dire calamity it 
would be to have a war between these two 
great nations, but he took a firm stand for right 
and justice, and the whole nation applauded 
his courage and the resolute stand he took in 
favor of the Monroe Doctrine. 

Another presidential election came in 1896, 
and Mr. McKinley was elected President, and 
on the fourth of March, 1897, Mr. Cleveland 
ceased to be President. He then purchased a 
home at Princeton, New Jersey, and moved 
there with his family. 

The story of Grover Cleveland is ended, and 
it is believed that the readers have learned a 
good many things about the Government and 
the history of the country, but the most im¬ 
pressive lesson which it is hoped has been 
learned is that an honest, intelligent, and in¬ 
dustrious boy may win his way in the world 
and become an honorable, useful, and illus¬ 
trious man. 


15 





























The Story of a Great and Fearless President, 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 







The Story of a Great and Fearless President, 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


i. 

EARLY INFLUENCES. 

The log-cabin and the frontier were known 
to Theodore Roosevelt in childhood only 
through books. He belongs to one of the 
old families of New York City. 

His ancestors were pioneers two hundred 
years before he was born. 

They were among the first thrifty Hollanders 
who settled in New Amsterdam. There, gen¬ 
eration after generation of Roosevelts lived 
and worked, gaining wealth and influence, 
while the Dutch village grew into the great 
American city, New York. 

They were good citizens, bringing up their 
children as they had been brought up, to be 
industrious and useful members of society, 



230 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


good fathers, and good members of Church 
and State. They joined, sire and son, the 
Dutch Reformed Church. They could be de¬ 
pended upon to do their part for their country 
in war or peace. 

For six generations the family had served 
the public faithfully as councilmen or assem¬ 
blymen. A strong sense of responsibility for 
the welfare of the community has always been 
a characteristic of the family. 

Theodore was born October 27, 1858, in the 
stately old house, No. 28 East Twentieth 
Street, New York City. This home was not 
so dear to him, however, as the country place, 
“Tranquillity,” at Oyster Bay, on Long Island, 
where he spent the happiest days of his boy¬ 
hood. 

He was not a strong child, and was encour¬ 
aged to spend much of his time playing in the 
open air, tramping through the forest, or row¬ 
ing or swimming in the blue waters of the bay. 

Thus, very early he came to be interested 
in nature, to know and love the wild, sweet 
freedom of the forest, and to notice plants, and 
birds, and fish, and animals of all sorts. 


THE OD ORE R O OSE VEL T. 2 3 I 

When he was a small child, the Civil War 
was in progress. Of course, battles and sol¬ 
diers were talked about on every hand. The 
heroism of the soldiers made a strong appeal 
to the little boy in the big city house. 

He heard of their splendid fighting, of how 
they slept on the ground and had almost 
nothing to eat, and he wished he could do 
something like that for his country. 

As he grew old enough to read, his favorite 
books were stories of war and pioneer life. 
Boone and Crockett were two of his heroes. 
If a man could not be a soldier, in his estima¬ 
tion the next best thing was to be a pioneer, 
and fight with the Indians and hunt wild 
beasts. 

Among his companions he liked best the 
boys who were strong and daring. He was 
devoted to his brother, an athletic youth, the 
faithful champion of Theodore, whose courage 
so far exceeded his strength that he frequently 
engaged in a combat to which he was not 
equal. 

The fact that he was not so strong as the 
boys he admired was a source of real trouble 


232 THE OD ORE R 0 OSE VEL T. 

to the youth. He determined to do all in his 
power to make himself more rugged and 
robust. 

He denied himself sweets, and followed 
faithfully any system of bathing, exercise, or 
diet which he believed would be beneficial. 
Indeed, he seemed to take a sort of satisfaction 
in disciplining himself with military severity. 

At the same time he was fond of fun. If 
there was any excitement afoot, he was sure 
to have a part in it. When he made an 
address to the people of Oyster Bay after his 
return from Cuba he referred to the time when 
he was a boy in the town, and, pointing to a 
great tree in which school-boys were perched 
to see and hear him, said he could remember 
listening in that very tree to a Fourth of July 
oration back in the sixties. 

What with plenty of good books and his 
father to direct his study of natural history, it 
is probable that the keen, observing lad learned 
more out of school than he did at his desk. 
Nevertheless, he was required to go to school 
—first to the public, later to private schools. 

His school work, though by no means re- 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


233 


markable, was thorough and creditable. He 
was an interesting pupil, because he always 
had an opinion of his own, and did not accept 
without thinking whatever the teacher or the 
text-book said. 

Then, too, he always did his best when the 
lesson was hardest and most of the other boys 
gave up. 

At home he was carefully trained with his 
brothers and sisters to be good, to be kind, to 
be polite. His mother took pains to be much 
with her children, and to make home a pleasant 
place for them. 

His father was a judge and a philanthropist. 
Many a fatherless poor boy in New York knew 
and loved Judge Roosevelt, and his own little 
sons were never happier than when they had 
won his approval. 

To give his father pleasure was motive 
enough for Theodore to make almost any 
effort. The father died before the son reached, 
manhood, but the latter did not soon outgrow 
the reverent love he had felt for his father, nor 
the wish to live in a way that would have 
given him satisfaction. 


234 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


Years after his father’s death, when he was 
congratulated by a friend on a great piece of 
work he had accomplished for the public good, 
he exclaimed, “ If only my father were alive to 
see it!” 

The inheritance and the home life of the boy 
were such as to contribute enduring strength 
and sweetness to his nature. 


II. 

STUDY AND RECREATION. 

By the time young Roosevelt was ready to 
enter college he had become as strong and vig¬ 
orous as the average youth. He took part in 
school athletics, and lived much out-of-doors, 
spending his vacations camping and hunting. 

In his opinion, no pastime was to be com¬ 
pared with hunting. He was never so happy 
as when off on a long hunt 

Later in life he did not think fire-hunting 
very good sport, but he never forgot the breath¬ 
less delight of his first fire-hunt in the Adiron- 
dacks. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


235 


Then, the starlit night, the dark water of the 
lake, the graceful bark canoe, the noiseless dip¬ 
ping of the paddle, the sound of splashing water 
where the deer drank, the leveled rifle, the flash 
of the jack lamp, and the wondering gaze of 
the great-eyed deer, combined to charm his 
fancy and give him keen enjoyment. 

One autumn he went to the Maine woods 
with a single comrade to hunt deer. The boys 
had a hard trip. The water was so low that 
they had to carry their pirogue most of the way. 

They saw no deer, but got some small game 
and had a good outing. They went home re¬ 
freshed and ready for work. 

Maine was the scene of many of Roosevelt’s 
youthful hunting ventures. A week spent there 
tracking the reindeer in snow-shoes gave him 
particular pleasure. Even in boyhood he would 
have thought it mere butchery to hunt ordinary 
deer in the deep snow. 

But to hunt reindeer, which are quite at their 
ease in snow-covered forests, is apt to be harder 
for the hunter than for the deer, and he was 
eager to try his luck at it. 

Accordingly, well equipped for the cold, he 


236 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


and a friend went one winter to a logging camp 
in the heart of a forest where the reindeer win¬ 
tered. 

They drove from the railroad to the logging 
camp, where they were received with the rough 
but genuine hospitality of the lumberman. 
Making the comfortable camp their headquar¬ 
ters, they penetrated the wintery solitude of the 
forest, following on snow-shoes the trail of many 
a deer, but finding none. 

However, the vigorous exercise in the brac¬ 
ing air, the good dinners at the logging camp, 
the excitement of the pursuit of the wary game, 
the beauty of the white forest, and the “silver 
thaw” that marked the end of their stay, made 
the young hunters consider the trip a success. 

When Theodore was seventeen years old his 
brother went West to hunt buffalo on the Great 
Plains. He was almost as. delighted as if he 
had been going himself, and presented his 
brother with the rifle with which he had shot 
his first deer. 

At the age of eighteen Theodore Roosevelt 
entered Harvard College. During the four 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


2 37 


years he spent at the university his interest 
was centered in study. 

That boyhood trait of having opinions of his 
own and being unwilling to be satisfied with 
what some one else said strengthened as years 
passed. 

He did not, like many college boys, jot down 
a few notes from a professors lecture and then 
forget the subject until time for examination. 
A good lecture led him to think and to read. 

Though not satisfied with a conclusion 
reached without careful investigation, he was 
rarely without an opinion on a subject upon 
which he had any information at all. His mind 
worked quickly to form theories concerning 
whatever facts were presented to it. 

His ready opinions, and the vim and good 
reason with which he could defend them, made 
him an interesting character in the class-room. 
He was recognized as a man who did his own 
thinking. 

His favorite subjects were history, English, 
political economy, and the natural sciences. 
'(.His general reading was more serious than that 
of many students. Essays, biographies, and 


238 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


histories were often chosen by him in prefer¬ 
ence to stories. 

Boston, Cambridge, and the neighboring New 
England towns, with their many historical asso¬ 
ciations, fostered in him an interest in the early 
history of America. He explored the crooked 
streets of Boston for Faneuil Hall and the Old 
North Church. 

He stood beneath the spreading Washington 
Elm in Cambridge. The battle-grounds of 
Bunker Hill, Lexington, and Concord came to 
be familiar to him. He visited Plymouth Rock 
and saw the old Plymouth Burying Ground ; 
dwellings, inns, and meeting-houses, more than 
a century old, helped to make the past real for 
him. 

While he cared particularly for United States 
history, he understood that it was impossible to 
know that rightly without knowing the history 
of other nations, and took pains to make him¬ 
self familiar with the world’s heroes and their 
achievements. 

He sought in a scholarly way to see events 
properly related to each other; to see whatever 
he studied in its bearing upon kindred subjects. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


239 


He ranked among the first students in his 
class. When he graduated, he was one of the 
few to whom membership to the Phi Beta 
Kappa Society was awarded for fine scholar¬ 
ship. While in college he was a member of 
the Natural History Society, the Art Club, and 
an editor of the Advocate. 

Theodore Roosevelt had time to do his work 
well and to do much more. Just as he would 
not study United States history without study¬ 
ing the history of other countries, he would not 
bury himself in books and neglect the other 
sides of life. His aim was to give himself an 
all-round education, physical and social as well 
as intellectual. 

He had two sunny rooms in a pleasant, quiet 
house not far from the Charles River, but far 
enough from the college to insure his taking 
some exercise every day. 

His study was well supplied with books. 
The walls were decorated with pictures of his 
own choosing, antlers and other trophies of the 
hunt. 

He kept a good horse, a stylish high cart, and 
drove a great deal. He was rarely alone on 


240 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


his drives, and his horse contributed to his own 
enjoyment quite as much as to his health. 

He joined the Athletic Association and the 
Harvard Rifle Corps. 

He had plenty of college spirit, and was 
always on hand to cheer for the Harvard crim¬ 
son at the great boat-races and ball-games. He 
took an active part in manly sports, and had few 
superiors in sparring and boxing. 

He was a member of the Hasty Pudding 
Club, and belonged to a fraternity. However, 
he did not limit his friendships to any particu¬ 
lar circle. 

He was quick to appreciate merit wherever 
he saw it. If a man had any conspicuous merit, 
Roosevelt could overlook some faults in him. 

He was ready to discuss political economy 
at length with the man of ideas, even if he 
wore a shabby, ill-fitting coat; or to spar with 
the athlete from the backwoods who, in talking, 
violated many of the rules for correct speech 
taught by Professor Hill. 

He could excuse a good writer being what 
the boys call a “grind”; if a youth had a cour¬ 
ageous heart, he could forgive his puny arm— 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


24I 


in short, though he had an extremely high 
standard and rigidly required for himself de¬ 
velopment in all directions, he was tolerant 
enough with the shortcomings of those less for¬ 
tunate than he. 

After receiving the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts from Harvard in 1880, Mr. Roosevelt 
travelled for a year in Europe. He climbed 
the Alps; he practised his French; he visited 
many of the places he had read of in history 
and literature; he hunted with English friends; 
and after a pleasant and profitable year, started 
for home as loyal an American as ever. 


III. 

IN POLITICS. 

On the long homeward voyage Mr. Roose¬ 
velt had time to think over the past and con¬ 
sider the future. Well equipped, with a strong 
constitution and a trained mind, he stood with 
the world before him. 

Should he, like some of his college friends, 
go to the great West and become a ranchman ? 
The novelty and wildness of the life attracted 
16 



242 THE OD ORE R 0 OSE VEL T. 

him. That, however, would be too much like 
a glorious holiday. 

He might do that some day, but just now he 
must give the head he had been so busy train¬ 
ing some harder work to do. 

Should he devote his life to letters and 
spend the rest of it as he had the last few 
years, among books and pictures and culti¬ 
vated people? His means were sufficient. 
There was nothing to prevent him doing so. 

There was plenty of work for the scholar to 
do—already he was thinking of a book he 
wanted to write. But no; he would study, 
he would write the book, but he must do 
something besides, something that would call 
into play his love of contest and adventure. 

Should he be a banker and financier and 
bend his efforts to piling up millions and in¬ 
creasing the wealth his forefathers had made ? 
That was too selfish. 

The young man was interested in people. 
He had high ideals. He wanted to use his 
power and spend his life to help make the 
world better. 

He decided that his half-formed plan to 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


243 


study law was best. To a great lawyer many 
and varied opportunities were open. Accord¬ 
ingly, when he reached New York, he began 
to study law in the office of his uncle, Robert 
Roosevelt. 

Several hours each day he read law indus¬ 
triously. During leisure hours he began work 
on his history of the war of 1812, which was 
published in 1882. 

As his father and grandfather had done, 
Roosevelt took a lively interest in politics. 
Like them, he was concerned not merely with 
national political issues, but with city and State 
government. He attended primaries and vis¬ 
ited political clubs. 

He found in control of political organiza¬ 
tions a set of men who, instead of trying to 
secure good government for the city, were in¬ 
terested to get weak, easily influenced men 
elected to important offices so that bribery and 
law-breaking might continue unpunished. 

These leaders at first gave the stranger from 
the “brown-stone district,” as they called the 
part of the city in which he lived, a cordial 
welcome. 


244 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


They had forgotten his father, and suppos¬ 
ing the rich young law student to be looking 
out for a public office, hoped he would be 
willing to pay them well for helping him to 
get it. 

He was invited to make a speech. He 
made one denouncing dishonesty and fraud 
in politics, and demanding reform in terms so 
forcible and characteristic that they were not 
soon forgotten. 

The “bosses,” finding that he was not of the 
weak and easily influenced sort, and that he 
would probably make trouble for them, turned 
upon him the cold, shoulder. He, however, 
had expected this, and was not to be driven 
away from the club-rooms. 

He talked with the men in his # friendly, 
genial manner, finding common ground be¬ 
tween himself and them wherever it was pos¬ 
sible, for he saw how large a part the personal 
element played in local politics. 

He soon won many friends among the better 
sort of men who habitually frequented the 
clubs and brought in new members. In this 
way he gained so large a following that the 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


245 


Republican Party was obliged to recognize 
him. 

He was, accordingly, nominated to represent 
his district in the lower house of the New York 
Legislature. 

He was called the “silk-stocking” candi¬ 
date, because he belonged to one of the 
wealthy and aristocratic families of the city. 
But in spite of ridicule he was elected. 

When the slight, boyish-looking member 
from New York took his seat in the Assembly 
room at Albany for the first time, he attracted 
little attention except from the corrupt politi¬ 
cians who hoped to find in him a man whose 
vote they could control. 

He, on the other hand, was very wide awake 
to see just what sort of men each of his 127 
fellow legislators was. 

He found among them Irish, German, and 
Americans; city men and farmers; educated 
men and ignorant men; wise and foolish; 
clever and simple; rich and poor; good and 
bad. The essential question with Roosevelt 
was, Which were honest and which were dis¬ 
honest. 


246 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


In a short time he had decided to his own 
satisfaction just what was the moral fiber of 
each. 

He believed many to be thoroughly honest 
and manly. Others he saw were weak and, 
though their natural impulses were right, could 
be influenced to act either generously or sel¬ 
fishly. 

Still others, he felt sure, were criminal, 
shamelessly selling their vote and their influ¬ 
ence, and striving to corrupt other assembly- 
men. 

He did not wish to shrink from or avoid the 
wicked and the weak. He was too good a 
fighter for that. His wish was to make war 
against the wicked, to join the good, and to 
win and lead the weak. 

Though only twenty-three years old and the 
youngest member of the Assembly, Roosevelt 
soon made his presence felt. His voice was 
ever raised for honesty and the public good. 

The corrupt who had sold their own votes 
and were acting as agents to buy the votes of 
others feared and hated the youthful but vigor¬ 
ous reformer. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


247 


The upright men who, hitherto, either be¬ 
cause of timidity or of inability, had remained 
inactive, looked upon him as their leader. 

He was twice re-elected, serving, in all, 
three terms, in the years 1882, 1883, and 
1884. During this time he held the place 
of leader of the Republican minority. 

He was a tireless worker, never sparing him¬ 
self in his efforts to discover the truth and pre¬ 
vent fraud. Where it was possible, he did not 
trust to report, but made original investigation. 

During the discussion of the Anti-tenement 
Cigar-maker s Bill he visited the tenements and 
saw with his own eyes the frightful misery and 
poverty in which hundreds of his fellowmen 
lived. 

He felt keenly the need of bettering their 
condition, not by charity, but by making and 
enforcing just laws, and realized sharply the 
heavy responsibility of the educated citizen. 

Mr. Roosevelt made a hard fight against 
the acceptance, by public officers, of money 
from private citizens for the performance of 
official duty. 

He secured an investigation by which it 


248 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


was discovered that the county clerk received 
upward of $ 82,000 a year in fees, and the sher¬ 
iff about $ 100 , 000 . Through his efforts fees 
in the office of register and county clerk were 
abolished. 

The aldermen in New York had the authority 
to veto appointments made by the mayor. This 
gave them a power over the mayor that they 
often used to the public injury. 

Under this regulation it was impossible for 
a mayor to appoint officers because of merit 
and their fitness for the work; he had to con¬ 
sider always what a man’s politics were and 
what political friends or enemies he had before 
making the appointment. 

Roosevelt, who believed heartily that all offi¬ 
cers should be appointed because of merit only, 
introduced a bill to deprive the aldermen of 
this power, and, by the exertion of his great in¬ 
fluence, secured its passage. 

This he considered his greatest service while 
acting as an assemblyman. 

During three years he saw many of the 
evils of party “machines.” He saw that their 
power was so great that a man could scarcely 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


249 


be elected to office without the help of the 
machine “bosses.” 

He saw that many ambitious men who would 
otherwise have used their influence for right 
and honesty were controlled by the bosses be¬ 
cause they feared they would not be re-elected 
unless they kept the favor of those powerful 
but unprincipled politicians. 

For his own part he took as his watchword 
“ Better faithful than famous,” and decided from 
the first, never for one moment to think of what 
the bearing of any legislative action of his 
might be on his political future. 

It is needless to say that he kept his reso¬ 
lution and was consequently in great disfavor 
with the managers of the party machine. 

Yet he was so fair-minded that he did not 
condemn the machine. He saw its utility and 
that the difficulty lay not in the party organi¬ 
zation, which was very complete and effective, 
but in the fact that it was managed by selfish, 
dishonest men. 

He could understand better how men of that 
class, with no high moral standard, could take 
advantage of their positions to keep their places 


250 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


and enrich themselves, than he could how men 
of high principle and good education, could be 
so indifferent to their duty as citizens as to allow 
corrupt men to control their party. 

He wished to arouse the young men of New 
York to a sense of their public responsibility. 
He was a natural leader and had great success 
in working with young men. 

During one campaign he organized a com¬ 
mittee of twenty to influence good citizens to 
go to the polls on election day, feeling sure 
that if good men voted, the right would win. 

His committee was a strange one. On it 
were some college men, a young college pro¬ 
fessor, the proprietor of a small cigar store, the 
editor of a little German newspaper, an Irish¬ 
man, a Jew, a Catholic. 

But however they might differ in education, 
social standing, nationality, or religious views, 
they were all young, intelligent, enthusiastic, 
and devoted to their leader. 

In 1884 Mr. Roosevelt was sent as delegate 
to the National Republican Convention. Dur¬ 
ing the campaign that followed many of the 
independent Republicans with whom he had 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


25 


been closely associated, left their party and used 
their influence to secure the election of Mr. 
Cleveland, who stood for civil-service reform. 

He incurred their severe censure by remain¬ 
ing true to his party. That year brought to a 
temporary close his political career. 

This period, so full of work for the public, had 
not been without great personal joy and sorrow 
for Mr. Roosevelt. In 1881 he married Miss 
Alice Lee, of Boston. In 1883 she died, leav¬ 
ing one daughter. 


IV. 

RANCH LIFE. 

The scene of Mr. Roosevelt’s activity now 
shifted from Albany and New York to the great 
western plains. 

In the early half of the nineteenth century 
the plains extending from Mexico to Canada 
and from the Rocky Mountains to the wheat 
and corn States along the Mississippi, had given 
pasturage to great herds of buffalo. 

But the buffalo had disappeared before the 
hunter, and as the land was good for grazing 



252 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


and seemed of little value for anything else, 
the whole region was being converted into large 
stock ranches. 

Mr. Roosevelt had travelled in the West and 
had seen something of ranch life. Its freedom 
and adventure suited him. Its very hardships 
attracted him, for they were of the sort to try a 
man’s endurance, and skill, and courage. 

He had all his life advocated a man’s stand¬ 
ing on his own merit and receiving only the 
reward he deserved. He had done this himself, 
in college and in politics as much as possible. 

But the thought of going to a country where 
his family, his college education, and his social 
and political influence would count for nothing^ 
where he must succeed wholly by virtue of his 
own strength, ability, and spirit, was bracing to 
him. 

He was eager to prove his arm as strong, his 
eye as true, his nerve as steady, as another’s. 
Besides, he wanted to learn how much of rugged 
manliness there was in him to endure with 
fidelity and good cheer the toil, exposure, and 
privations of ranch life: how much of the Daniel 
Boone quality of staunchness he possessed. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


253 


Yet he had no idea of living in an unneces¬ 
sarily primitive manner, or of giving up more 
than necessary of the comforts, and pleasure of 
an educated man. 

His ranch was as well equipped and up to 
date as possible. It extended along both sides 
of the Little Missouri River, near the village of 
Medora. 

The ranch home was built in a glade thickly 
grown with cottonwood trees and underbrush. 
So wild was the place that deer sometimes 
came down to the river to drink, and wolves 
and cougars visited the cattle-pens at night 
The nearest human habitation was ten miles 
away. 

The house was called “ Elkhorn,” because on 
the spot where it stood had been found two 
great pairs of elk horns closely interlocked, tell¬ 
ing the tale of a deadly struggle between two 
of the native monarchs of the wilderness. It 
was a long, low building, made of clean-hewn 
logs and roofed with shingles. 

Not far from the house were the sod-roofed 
sheds and stables, the cattle-pens, the horse cor¬ 
ral, and the kitchen garden. 


254 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


Everything was, however, kept clean and in 
good repair while the house was occupied. 

Here the new ranchman practised the cow¬ 
boy’s peculiar accomplishments, throwing the 
“rope,” as the lasso is called by the northern 
cattlemen, and breaking broncos with a deter¬ 
mination that strained shoulders and even 
broken bones could not shake. 

He enjoyed the excitement of conquering a 
rebellious horse, of keeping his seat while the 
animal reared and pitched and plunged under 
him in vain efforts to throw him. 

The watching cow hands, who had been 
trained from boyhood to the work, were ready 
enough to laugh at any mishap that befell an 
eastern “tenderfoot.” 

But this one bore laughter and jokes with 
good humor and usually managed to keep his 
patience and his saddle. 

Exercise of this kind sometimes made up the 
chief work of Mr. Roosevelt’s day. But ordi¬ 
narily he was up at dawn, winter and summer, 
and in the saddle immediately after a hearty 
breakfast. 

Often he went off on a hunting expedition 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


255 


to keep up the necessary supply of meat. But 
for the most part his days were spent “quirt” 
in hand, on the back of a firey little mustang 
careering over the plains. 

Now he rode simply to tame the wildness 
of a long unused horse. Again, he went in 
search of a lost bronco. Sometimes he made 
a tour of the ranch to see how the cattle were 
faring and how the men were doing their work. 
Or he rode merely to make himself more famil¬ 
iar with the country where his cattle grazed, a 
country of buttes, coulees, and canyons. 

The monotony of such a trip was apt to be 
varied by an encounter with a charging steer. 
The discovery of an unbranded yearling, or the 
rescue, by means of ropes, of a cow helplessly 
stranded in a mud hole or in some pool of 
quicksand, though such employments were 
exhilarating to the newcomer, were humdrum 
to those familiar with the excitement of a 
“ round-up.” 

On the western cattle ranches, where there 
are no fences to separate one range from 
another, the cattle belonging to neighboring 
ranchmen sometimes herd together. In order 


256 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


that a man may know his own cattle he has 
them branded with a certain sign or mark. 

Wherever he finds an animal with his mark 
upon it he may claim it. If an unbranded 
animal is found among his cattle, it is branded 
with his mark. Every spring there is a great 
round-up, when the cattle belonging to differ¬ 
ent owners are separated and the calves 
branded. 

This is the most stirring time in the ranch¬ 
man’s year, and though it necessitates hard, 
dangerous work, is looked forward to with 
eagerness by the cowboys. Mr. Roosevelt 
took an active part in the round-up, sharing 
with the cowboys its hardships and risks. 

Late in May he started with a dozen or more 
“cow-punchers” for the appointed meeting- 
place of the cattle men of that district. 

They took with them a four-horse wagon 
loaded with food and bedding, in charge of 
the indispensable cook and teamster, and a 
large saddle band. Every man must have 
eight or ten horses for the days of hard riding 
to come. 

After their winter’s rest, “ Dynamite Jimmy,” 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 257 

“Fall Back,'’ “ Bulberry Johnny,” “Wire 
Fence,” “Water Skip,” and all the rest of the 
broncos were wild and almost unmanageable. 

There was a great tossing of manes and 
kicking of heels as sorrel, pinto, roan, and bay 
clattered along over the plain. 

Roosevelt, with flapping sombrero, flannel 
hunting shirt, bright neck-cloth, and leather 
leggings, with a “quirt” in gloved hand and 
a revolver at belt, mounted on his wiry little 
horse in a gigantic stock saddle with dangling 
lasso, looked like any cowboy. 

Perhaps the jackets bundled under the 
“slickers” or rain-coats behind the saddles 
of the other riders did not all contain so com¬ 
plete a washing outfit and change of under¬ 
wear, but that distinction, though significant, 
was not noticeable. 

When the company reached the camp agreed 
upon for the meeting-place of the riders from 
the various ranches in the neighborhood, there 
was little to do but lounge in the shade, tell 
stories, and break horses, until all had assem¬ 
bled. Then the foreman of the round-up gave 
his orders, and work began without delay. 

17 


258 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


As early as three o’clock in the morning the 
cook’s harsh summons roused the men from 
their sleep on the ground. 

Then, in the dim gray of dawn, there was a 
lively pulling on of boots, a tying of blankets 
into bundles, followed by a rush for the camp fire, 
where each man helped himself to black coffee, 
biscuit, beans, and fried pork, and ate what he 
could before the foreman’s call, “ Come, boys, 
catch your horses !” sounded. 

The first work of the day was to drive the 
cattle in from the surrounding country. The 
district was parceled out to bands made up of 
a dozen riders each, under the direction of a 
division foreman. The members of a band 
rode together until they reached the section 
allotted to them. 

Then the foreman sent out two riders, one 
to the right, one to the left, to find and drive 
in all the cattle within certain limits. The 
rest of the company rode on until they had 
come to the boundary of the section to be 
“ cleaned up ” by the first riders; here two 
more were sent out. 

This continued until every rider had the 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


259 


field for his morning’s work assigned him. 
In open, level country it was easy to find the 
cattle, but on irregular ground like the Bad 
Lands along the Little Missouri long and hard 
riding was necessary. 

These reckless rides before the sun was up, 
over green field, up butte, and down coulee, 
gave Mr. Roosevelt keen pleasure. His pulses 
bounded as his daring, sure-footed horse cleared 
a chasm or went plunging and sliding down 
some slippery ravine. 

When he saw a herd of cattle grazing in a 
coulee he took the shortest route toward them, 
shouting “ ei-koh-h-h!” and started them run¬ 
ning down the valley to the main stream, 
where they would be met by other riders and 
headed toward the camp. Then on he rode 
without pause until he felt certain there were 
no more cattle in his territory. 

Often, on coming into camp, he found as 
many as two thousand cattle herded there. 
The eight hours of hard riding were only the 
beginning of the day’s work. After a hur¬ 
ried dinner he mounted a fresh horse for the 
round-up. 


26 o 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


Most of the cowboys, on tough, spirited 
broncos, were stationed at intervals about the 
herd to round it up and keep any member from 
breaking away. 

Then two or three trained men, mounted 
on good “cutting” ponies, rode into the herd 
to “cut” or drive out the cows and calves or 
any unbranded animal. Each animal that was 
to be removed had to be driven slowly through 
the herd in such a way as not to excite the 
herd. 

When it reached the edge of the herd, wild 
riding was needed to keep other cattle from 
leaving the herd with the animal “cut out,” 
and to keep it from rejoining the herd. 

The cattle separated from the main herd 
were formed into a new herd; the calves were 
roped and branded; and when this work was 
done, the herds were turned loose and started 
in the direction opposite to the one in which 
the cowboys were to continue their work. 

The spring round-up lasted about six weeks. 
When it was over, the time had come for the 
first round-up of beeves for market. This was 
conducted in much the same way. But now 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


26l 


the four-year-old beeves instead of the cows 
and calves were “cut out” of the herd. 

After the beef round-up the long, monoto¬ 
nous trail work of driving the herds to the 
nearest shipping point began. Progress had 
to be very slow in order that the cattle might 
reach the market in good condition. 

In the day-time they were driven in long lines. 
At night the cattle were bedded down by two 
cowboys who rode round and round the herd, 
driving the cattle into as small a circle as pos¬ 
sible, and continued to ride until the animals 
had lain down. 

The night was divided into watches, and two 
men at a time guarded the herd. They did 
this by riding round it in opposite directions, 
trusting their horses to find their way in the 
dark or to give them warning if any animal 
started to leave the herd. 

If the cattle were restless, the cowboys shouted 
and sang, as the sound of human voices seemed 
to soothe the wild creatures. 

Sometimes, in spite of all they could do to 
pacify them, the animals would take fright at 
the cry of a beast of prey or the rolling of 


262 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


thunder. The whole herd would be on its feet 
in an instant. 

The mass of flashing hides and horns and 
staring eyes would plunge forward. Then the 
cowboys rode like mad, now with, now athwart, 
the herd, guiding, checking, and at length con¬ 
trolling the terrified cattle. 

Mr. Roosevelt took his part in the round-up 
and in the trail work, mounted night guard in 
the rain, and rounded up stampeded herds. 

Later in the summer, however, there were 
times when cattle work was light, and even that 
energetic man was glad to keep away from the 
alkali plains where the gray sage bush and the 
gray earth baked in the August sun. 

On those days there was no place quite so 
inviting as the broad, shady veranda of the 
ranch house. There he sat in one of the big, 
comfortable rocking-chairs, content for a little 
while to be idle and do nothing but look off' 
under the boughs of the stately, white-barked 
sycamores, across the river to the green bottom¬ 
lands and the brown bluffs rising in the distance. 

During the winter the cattle were left to range 
at will, so long as they did not “drift” too near 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


263 


the land of the Indians. To prevent this, camps 
were established at intervals along the danger¬ 
line, where riders kept guard to drive back the 
cattle if they ventured too near. 

It was also the duty of these men to drive 
in and care for the weak or disabled animals 
after a blizzard and to see where the herds 
found shelter. 

After serving his turn at a line camp and rid¬ 
ing through cruel, numbing cold that found its 
way through wolf-skin coat and buck-skin shirt, 
Mr. Roosevelt experienced a sense of real joy 
when he came in sight of the smoking chimneys 
of Elkhorn and saw the firelight flash through 
the windows red on the snowy bushes. 

Thoughts of the roaring logs in the wide fire¬ 
place, of the table laden with smoking platters 
of broiled venison and roast chicken, tureens 
of steaming potatoes and tomatoes, bowls of 
milk and wild-plum jelly, and plates piled with 
flaky bread made by the foreman’s wife, were 
doubly pleasant because of the days passed in 
the cheerless, dug-out line camp. 


264 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


V. 

44 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER/' 

While Mr. Roosevelt lived on his ranch he 
did a great deal of hunting. Besides hunting 
for sport, he made it his business to keep the 
ranch table supplied with game. 

Most of the large beasts of prey had been 
driven from the neighborhood before he came 
to live there, and he shot no grizzlies later than 
1884. But after a day’s hunt on the plains he 
usually came home with two or three antelope, 
and the hills nearby were full of deer. 

Mr. Roosevelt was too true a hunter, how¬ 
ever, to be satisfied with game that was near 
and plentiful. Difficulty and danger added 
greatly to the zest of the sport. Often he went 
on a long hunt alone or with some old hunter 
for a companion. 

When spending several weeks in the moun¬ 
tains, he was glad to have two or three good 
hunters with him, a band of horses to carry the 
trophies and the camp equipment, and a cook 
and packer to do the camp work. 

On almost any fine fall morning, when the 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


265 


ground was still crisp with frost and the sun 
was only beginning to redden the east, he 
might be seen riding off on his favorite hunt¬ 
ing horse, “ Manitou,” with perhaps a deer 
hound or two at his heels. 

On these trips he wore a buck-skin hunting 
tunic and leggings and a broad-brimmed hat 
of the same neutral hue, that he might be as 
inconspicuous as possible. 

He carried with him compass, field-glasses, 
matches, salt, and a strip of smoked venison, 
for he knew what it was to be lost in the wil¬ 
derness. Usually he could depend upon his 
faithful Winchester for meat, however. 

He let his horse bound along at a lively 
pace, but he was not in so great a hurry that 
he could not enjoy his ride. He was con¬ 
scious of the strong, swift motion of the horse, 
of the freshness and coolness of the air, the 
rising sun, the long shadows, the wheeling of 
the Clark’s Crows and the Wisky Jacks, and 
the notes of the late song-birds. All this 
made a good beginning for a day of keen de- 
light. 

When he neared the place where he hoped 


266 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


to find game he tethered his horse, and, in 
moccasined feet, went clambering up some 
deer trail swiftly and silently, keeping a sharp 
lookout all the while for signs of game. 

Footprints, the beds of the deer, and freshly 
nibbled twigs, gave him encouragement while 
he climbed the steep trail through the woods. 
Occasionally coming out on some high cliff, 
he searched the landscape with his field- 
glasses. 

When at length he caught sight of a deer, 
his eagerness increased and he commenced a 
cautious approach. After an hour’s breathless 
climbing and crawling he might come within 
gunshot of the game, only to see it take fright 
and go bounding safely off before he could 
take aim. 

Then the whole process had to be repeated, 
—the search for signs, the following of the 
sign, the cautious, laborious “stalk,”—but at 
last came the moment of triumph, when the 
lordly buck with splendid antlers stood not 
one hundred yards away, and he knew, as he 
took steady aim, that the game was his. 

Mr. Roosevelt is a good shot. He is proud 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


267 


of his record in shooting running antelope and 
in hitting at long range, but he declares that 
his success in hunting is due more largely to 
“ dogged perseverance and patient persist¬ 
ence” than to skill. 

Perhaps the hard work and persistence were 
necessary to make him appreciate to the full 
the satisfaction of bringing down the game. 

Certainly, though he enjoyed as much as 
any man coming into camp with three hardly 
earned elk tongues hanging at his belt, he 
took no pleasure in shooting deer swimming 
in water or floundering in snow. 

He saw little sport in fire-hunting or in 
hunting the white-tail deer with hounds. He 
liked to still-hunt the black-tail deer among the 
wooded hills; to follow the antelope over the 
green prairies in spring and early summer; to 
seek the sure-footed mountain goat among 
snowy crags; to track in snow-shoes the broad- 
hoofed caribou, and to surprise the moose in 
its watery haunts. 

But none of these pleasures excelled that 
of elk hunting in the mountain parks of the 
Rockies. Often he pitched his camp by some 


268 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


mountain lake or rushing stream, and from 
there hunted the heights for elk. 

It was good, after a day’s hunt, to come into 
a comfortable camp at night, to sit down to a 
feast of “ roasted elk venison, trout, and flap- 
jacks with maple syrup,” then to lounge about 
the fire of pitchy stumps telling the experi¬ 
ences of the day or recounting former hunting 
exploits. 

It was pleasant to lie at night in a warm, 
deer-skin sleeping bag, breathing the keen air, 
and hearing, above the roar of the green moun¬ 
tain torrent, the high, bugle-like call of the elk. 
But to these men the best part of all was the 
day’s work, the stealthy following of that ring¬ 
ing call until within gunshot of the princely 
buck with his towering antlers. 

These wild scenes made the hunter think, by 
contrast, of his far-away home. He talked to 
his Indian guide about his children, and was 
pleased with the stories the red man told in re¬ 
turn about his little papooses. When hunting 
on his son’s birthday, Mr. Roosevelt marked 
the antlers of the first elk he shot, to be sent 
to the little fellow for his very own. 


THE OD ORE RO OSE VEL T. 2 69 

Even in the wilderness Mr. Roosevelt pre¬ 
served his sense of responsibility for the public 
good. One October, when he was out with a 
small party for the purpose of hunting ante¬ 
lope, the hunt was interrupted by a prairie-fire. 
The camp was easily and quickly moved to a 
place of safety. 

Then the party fell to work to put out the 
fire. The wind was so strong that they made 
but little headway against it, and when night 
came it was still burning, looking, he said, like 
a “great red snake writhing sideways across 
the prairie.” But now the wind had gone 
down, and they took up the work with fresh 
courage and zeal. 

After the fashion of cowboys fighting a prai- 
rie-fire, they shot a steer, chopped it in half 
lengthwise, and tied ropes to its legs; then two 
of the men mounted their horses, and each 
taking a rope, rode to the fire line. One 
spurred his horse across the narrow, but 
fiercely hot, path of flame, then turning, they 
rode parallel with it, dragging their heavy, 
moist burden over the fire and smothering it. 

The other men followed them, beating out 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


2?0 

with raincoats or blankets the flames that had 
not been extinguished by the riders. The ride 
over rough, unfamiliar ground, in the heat and 
smoke of the prairie-fire, with the steer’s car¬ 
cass, now catching on something and pulling 
the ropes taut, now bouncing at the very heels 
of the frightened horses, was unpleasant and 
exhausting. 

Men and horses were both well worn out 
when a ravine was reached, beyond which the 
fire divided in many lines that wriggled away 
through the blackness like endless fire-serpents. 
So the workers had not the satisfaction of put¬ 
ting out entirely the fire, but they had saved 
thousands of acres of precious pasturage for 
the cattle. 

In this free out-of-door life the best of fel¬ 
lowship existed. Mr. Roosevelt could appre¬ 
ciate a good story, a good hunter, a good man, 
even when polish was wanting. He took more 
pleasure in finding the good and manly quali¬ 
ties in the weather-beaten men of mountain 
and plain than in criticizing their manners. 

He respected them for what they were and 
made them feel it. Though he was not ready 


THE OD ORE R 0 OSE VEL T. 2JI 

to find fault with the men he lived among, he 
had no idea of living on the same intellectual 
level with them. His ranch house was well 
furnished with books, and he spent much of 
his time there reading and writing. When on 
a long excursion of any sort, he usually had a 
good book in his pocket. 

He tells how once, when in mid-winter, he 
was hunting a horse among the hills he fell in 
with a strange cowboy, made friends with him, 
and camped with him in a deserted hut. 
There they made a fire of logs and were quite 
cozy. Mr. Roosevelt whiled away the hours 
during a storm by reading Hamlet aloud. 
The cowboy was much interested, and de¬ 
lighted the reader by his shrewd and appre¬ 
ciative comments. 

In the large, rough-walled living room of 
the ranch house, bear-skins and stag-heads re¬ 
minded one of the wildness of the region, and 
made the crackling fire seem all the warmer 
and the comfortable rocking-chair more com¬ 
fortable as the ranchman sat reading Cooper’s 
stories of Indian life or John Burroughs’ essays 
on nature, while the snow blew outside. This 


272 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


room was the scene of the writing of much 
that Mr. Roosevelt has published on Western 
life. 


VI. 

IMPORTANT OFFICES. 

In the meantime Mr. Roosevelt had not been 
forgotten in New York. In 1886 the Demo¬ 
crats were driven to nominate a candidate for 
the mayoralty who would meet the demands 
of the public for better government and better 
city officers. 

They selected A. S. Hewett, an able and 
respected man. The selection met with so 
much applause that the Republicans saw the 
necessity of finding a candidate of stainless 
record and acknowledged force of character to 
run against him. 

They nominated Theodore Roosevelt, then 
only twenty-eight years old. He accepted the 
party’s nomination, saying that if he were 
elected he would serve the Republican Party 
by serving the city to the best of his ability. 

The Labor Party put into the field as its 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


273 


candidate Henry George, a man of such promi¬ 
nence that his election was looked upon as 
quite possible. Any one of the three candi¬ 
dates was well worthy of the honor and the 
responsibility, but Mr. Hewett had the support 
of the strongest party organization in the city, 
and naturally won the election. 

Mr. Roosevelt’s work as Assemblyman in 
Albany had attracted wide-spread attention. 
His candidacy for the mayorship of New York 
brought him again before the public. His 
efforts to secure honest legislation and civil- 
service reform were being more and more 
appreciated. 

It is, therefore, not strange that in 1889 he 
was appointed by President Harrison as a 
member of the National Civil-Service Com¬ 
mission. 

He found that his new office called for 
ceaseless watchfulness and great industry and 
courage. 

Civil-service offices had so long been treated 
as party spoils that many took it as a matter 
of course that when the Democratic Party came 
into power all Republican employees in the 
18 


274 THE OD ORE RO OSE VEL T. 

post-office, the custom house, or any depart¬ 
ment of the civil service should be turned out 
to make place for Democrats, and when the 
Republican Party was reinstated there should 
be a redistribution of the offices among Repub¬ 
licans. 

It is important to know what the political 
views of one’s Representative or Senator are, 
as he must vote for one in Congress. But a 
man’s politics have nothing to do with his 
being a good postmaster or mail clerk. 

And Mr. Roosevelt and all advocates of 
civil-service reform thought that the men best 
able to do the work should be given such posi¬ 
tions without respect to party, and that they 
should be discharged only for good reason and 
not because of a change in administration. 

They wished to see the merit system estab¬ 
lished for two reasons : First, because it would 
give the nation better public service, since it 
would prevent the employment of incompetent 
men and would also prevent the confusion and 
blundering that were sure to follow a complete 
change in the working force of any department 
of the civil service. 


THE OD ORE RO OSE VEL T. 2J$ 

Secondly, because under the spoils system 
public offices could be used as bribes to induce 
men who wanted them to use their influence 
and votes for the election of men from whom 
they hoped to receive an appointment. 

That the spoils system made it possible to 
use the taxes paid by the people for good 
public service, to reward party “bosses,” and 
to corrupt voters was the greatest evil of the 
system in Mr. Roosevelt’s estimation. 

Certain classes of public service were pro¬ 
tected by the Civil-Service Law, which re¬ 
quired that vacancies should be filled by those 
who stood highest in competitive examinations 
open to the public. The Commission had to 
provide for the examinations and had to see 
that the law was not evaded or violated. 

Mr. Roosevelt found this no easy task. He 
says that it was usually necessary to goad the 
heads of departments continually to see that 
they did not allow their subordinates to evade 
the law, and that it was very difficult to get 
either the President or the head of a depart¬ 
ment to punish those subordinates who had 
evaded it. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


276 

But he neither relaxed his watchfulness nor 
shrank from an unpleasant duty, and was re¬ 
markably successful in enforcing the law. 

He not only sought to enforce the law, but 
also to extend its application to additional 
classes of service, and was instrumental in 
bringing thousands of places under its pro¬ 
vision. 

So thorough and able was the work he did 
as Civil-Service Commissioner that President 
Harrison said, “ If he had no other record than 
his service as an employee of the Civil-Service 
Commission he would be deserving of the 
nation’s gratitude and confidence.” 

President Cleveland reappointed Mr. Roose¬ 
velt, and accepted with regret his resignation 
in May, 1895. 

Mr. Roosevelt left one difficult task, to per¬ 
form one yet more difficult. He had been 
made President of the Police Board of New 
York city. The government of the city had 
been lax, and the liquor law had been a source 
of constant trouble. 

If a law-breaking saloon-keeper had his 
saloon open after hours or on Sunday, he was 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


2 77 


sometimes visited by a policeman, a dishonest 
one,—and there were a number of this kind on 
the police force when Mr. Roosevelt was ap¬ 
pointed President of the Police Board,—who 
threatened to arrest him; if, however, he paid 
the officer liberally, the arrest would not be 
made. 

Thus the law, instead of being enforced to 
secure good government, was made to serve 
as a device by which money could be extorted 
from the law-breaking liquor-sellers. When 
Mr. Roosevelt went into office, he declared 
that he would enforce the law. 

People said this could not be done: the 
liquor law was too strict; it had been framed 
to please the impractical good, without any 
idea of its being actually enforced. He re¬ 
plied that he was not responsible for the law; 
that his business was to enforce it, and not to 
make or unmake the law. He went to work 
vigorously to improve the police force. 

He dismissed a large number of policemen 
and employed in their places men who had 
physical strength, a reasonable degree of intel¬ 
ligence, and a good moral character. 

£5 ' o 


278 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


He made the entire force understand that 
neglect of duty or acceptance of bribes from 
dishonest saloon-keepers would not be toler¬ 
ated. Not content with issuing orders based 
on knowledge gained from others, he went in 
person to see how his subordinates were doing 
their duty. 

Like General Grant, Mr. Roosevelt pos¬ 
sessed the great and distinguished trait of 
being ever present to stimulate, encourage, 
and reward those who were anxious and quick 
to excel in doing their duty, as well as to 
punish those who were slack and inattentive 
to their duties. 

The two men, by their ever-present presence, 
their fearless courage, and indomitable will set 
an example which the men under their charge 
were quick to notice and follow. 

Many a policeman sleeping on his post was 
roused in the middle of the night and opened 
his eyes to find the President of the Board 
smiling upon him with rather grim friendli¬ 
ness. The new President’s face soon became 
known to the entire force, and his name made 
the lazy, unpainstaking officer quake. 


THE OD ORE R O OSE VEL T. 279 

But most of the policemen were glad of the 
change. It was less unbearable to be rebuked 
for violation of the law than for obedience to 
it, as had often happened in the days when the 
offender, rather than the offense, was consid¬ 
ered in the police court. 

Then, too, while Mr. Roosevelt was severe 
with neglect of duty, he was just, and was 
ready to listen to every man’s defense of him¬ 
self. Furthermore, he was generous in his 
acknowledgment of good service or personal 
courage. He made the men feel that he was 
greatly interested in their welfare, and that he 
would do his very best for them. 

Hitherto, if a policeman’s uniform was soiled 
or torn in making an arrest, the policeman had 
to get a new one at his own expense. Mr. 
Roosevelt saw that this requirement alone was 
enough to discourage bold and aggressive 
action on the part of the police when dealing 
with desperate cases, and brought it about that 
a uniform spoiled in public service was paid for 
at the expense of the public. 

The policemen soon learned that he would 
stand by an officer who got into trouble 


280 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


through the conscientious, fearless perform¬ 
ance of his duty, but that he would not tol¬ 
erate brutality on the part of an officer. Un¬ 
necessary clubbing in making arrests or in 
times of riot was stopped. 

There were frequent conflicts between the 
policemen and the strikers. 

Mr. Roosevelt’s official duty ended in seeing 
that the police-officer prevented disorder, but 
he was always ready to do more than the law 
required. He called a meeting of the strikers 
to see if they could not come to some under¬ 
standing. His own direct, manly, determined 
manner of addressing them won their respect 
and applause, and he was able to do much to 
prevent riot and blood-shed. 

In a very short time Mr. Roosevelt worked 
a complete reformation in the city police ser¬ 
vice. The star on the blue coat of the officer 
came to be regarded by evil-doers as the 
emblem of punishment, and by the wronged 
and helpless as the promise of help and pro¬ 
tection. 

The policemen caught something of the sol¬ 
dierly spirit of the President of the Board, 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


281 


something of his zeal for work, and they made 
law and order prevail in New York city. 

In 1897 Mr. Roosevelt was appointed As¬ 
sistant Secretary of the Navy, and went to 
Washington to live. Since indications pointed 
to a war with Spain, he welcomed the oppor¬ 
tunity to bring his talent for work to bear 
in a department upon which the success of 
such a war must largely depend. His intel¬ 
ligence and energy soon made themselves felt 
throughout the department. 

He dispatched more business than any 
two ordinary men, and it is said he received 
his business visitors and transacted most of 
his office work on his feet. He advocated 
strengthening the navy and making the gun¬ 
ners efficient, even at a cost that seemed to 
many extravagant. 

As trouble between the United States and 
Spain seemed more and more certain, he de¬ 
clared his determination to go to the front 
should war be declared. True to his word, 
when hostilities began he resigned his office 
and accepted an appointment as Lieutenant- 
Colonel of the First Regiment of United States 


282 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


Volunteer Cavalry, under his friend, Colonel 
Wood. The regiment was to be recruited 
from the western territories. 


VII. 

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt’s well- 
known energy and perseverance gave assur¬ 
ance that the regiment with which he had to 
do would reach the front in time for the fight¬ 
ing, even should the war be a very brief one. 
Venturesome young men from all over the 
country were, therefore, eager to join the First 
Regiment of Cavalry Volunteers, and many 
applicants had to be refused. 

While the troops were assembling at San 
Antonio, Texas, Mr. Roosevelt was at Wash¬ 
ington conferring with Government officials 
and railroad men and doing all in his power 
to obtain uniforms, saddles, and arms for his 
regiment. 

When at length he reached San Antonio, 
he found among the motley crowd gathered 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


283 


there many familiar faces. He was greeted by 
men with whom he had hunted in the moun¬ 
tains of the far Northwest; there were cowboys 
with whom he had ridden at spring round-ups; 
there was his own ranch partner, Ferguson. 
There were miners, Indians, and cattlemen of 
the southern plains whose names were known 
ajl along the frontier. 

A few men from the East had been allowed 
to enlist. Among them were policemen who 
had served under Roosevelt in New York; 
there were men with whom he had studied at 
Harvard; there were athletes that he had 
known as polo players, captains of crews, and 
foot-ball elevens. 

His spirits rose and his eyes brightened as 
he surveyed the material from which he was 
to make his famous regiment. Though their 
lives had in many respects been widely differ¬ 
ent, the men had much in common. They 
were brave, high-spirited, and ambitious, eager 
to face danger and win glory. They were 
men of iron muscle and iron will. 

They would not have to be seasoned to 
endure scant rations and hard beds, nor to 


284 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


shoot and ride. These things they knew 
already. The question was, Would these in¬ 
dependent, fiery spirited men be willing to 
obey orders and conform to military usage— 
would they who were used to command be 
willing to serve in the ranks? 

Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt explained to 
them that camp discipline was strict, that thefe 
would be little chance for promotion, that most 
of the work would be laborious and inglorious, 
and advised them to withdraw before it was 
too late unless they were willing to suffer 
many hardships. 

All were eager to go, however, on any 
terms. Colonel Wood now gave his attention 
to the proper equipment of the regiment, and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt took in charge 
the drilling of the troops. He realized fully 
the delicacy of his task. 

Such men must be ruled with firmness but 
with friendliness. They must be made to feel 
confidence in the good sense and the good will 
of their officers. 

He followed a wise course: while firm and 
exacting with reference to matters so important 


THE OD ORE R O OSE VELT. 285 

as punctuality in guard duty, cleanliness, and 
obedience, he treated with great patience any 
unintentional violation of military etiquette. 
Under this treatment the men showed surpris¬ 
ing anxiety to deport themselves in the small¬ 
est matters. 

Considering the mixed multitude, life in the 
hot and dusty camp passed with but little fric¬ 
tion. A Harvard graduate cooked without 
complaint for New Mexico cowboys. College- 
boys and cowboys “ messed and bunked ” 
together. Of course, the peculiarities of dif¬ 
ferent regions gave rise to much good-natured 
banter. 

Nicknames were freely distributed—an eas¬ 
terner, because of his fine manners and gen¬ 
tlemanly ways, was called “Tough Ike.” A 
cowboy who once remarked with evident pride 
that he had an aunt who lived in the Metrop¬ 
olis, New York, was ever afterward known as 
“Metropolitan Bill.” 

When it came to regimental drill, all were 
in earnest and did their best. Most of them 
were spare, erect fellows, with weather-beaten, 
manly faces. The uniform—a flannel shirt, 


286 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


kerchief, dust-colored hat, trousers, and leg¬ 
gings—was well suited to them. 

Their horses were wild, untrained creatures, 
and the first drills were exciting and amusing; 
but in a short time Colonel Roosevelt had 
reason to feel proud of his “Rough Riders,” 
as the public named them. 

When word came to advance to Tampa, 
Florida, from which point the troops were to 
embark, there was general rejoicing. Colonel 
Roosevelt had charge of four divisions on the 
journey. 

He liked to see everything done in business¬ 
like style, and to him the inadequacy of the 
accommodations for transporting soldiers and 
baggage and horses seemed inexcusable. It 
took the utmost effort on his part to secure 
provisions and cars and to get them loaded. 

The long journey was anything but pleas¬ 
ant; the weather was hot, the trains were 
crowded, and the food and water were poor. 
Colonel Roosevelt did what he could to 
lighten the hardships of the journey, even 
buying food for the men with his own money. 

Wherever the train stopped, crowds of pa- 


THEODORE ROOSE VELT. 28/ 

triotic southerners greeted the soldiers with 
cheers and gifts of fruit and flowers. 

At Tampa all was confusion; fortunately, 
the stay there was not long. The order to 
embark, however, was not without disappoint¬ 
ment for the Rough Riders. Only eight troops 
of seventy men each were to be allowed to go, 
and horses were to be left in America. 

Colonel Roosevelt sympathized heartily with 
the troopers that must stay, and did his best to 
console them. 

But as the regular troops were, naturally, to 
be sent to the front before the volunteers, he 
was glad to have even a portion of his regi¬ 
ment allowed to go. He bent his energy to 
securing a transport and getting his troops 
aboard. For days the crowded troop-ships 
lay in the harbor in the glare of the sun; 
but at length the welcome order to start 
came. 

On the evening of the thirteenth of June 
over thirty troop-ships steamed out of Tampa 
harbor, while people waved a farewell from the 
shore, bands played, flags fluttered, and men 
crowded to the railing or climbed into the 


288 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


rigging to take what was for many their last 
look at America. 

Torpedo boats and ironclad war-ships 
guarded the transports as they plowed their 
way through the blue waters of the southern 
sea to a destination unknown to the troops. 

Although Colonel Roosevelt did not know 
where the troops were to be landed, he felt 
sure that an opportunity to meet the enemy 
would be given them. 

He kept the coming day of battle before the 
minds of all as a goal most earnestly to be 
desired, and made every one feel that to fail 
to do his duty well in that hour of trial would 
be a worse fate than death. 

He made close friendships with some of the 
officers, and saw as much of the men as he 
could. He found that in spite of the discom¬ 
fort arising from the crowded condition of the 
ship and the unpalatable rations the men were 
making little complaint. 

For most of the men from the West this was 
their first voyage, their first sight of the ocean. 
The endless expanse of undulating blue re¬ 
minded them of the boundless plains where 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 289 

the tall grass billowed all day in the rising 
and falling wind. 

Some sat silent and thought of the past or 
dreamed of the future. Others told tales of 
wild border life to groups of interested lis¬ 
teners. 

The monotony of the voyage was relieved 
by the presence of so many other vessels. 
The transports moved in long, parallel lines, 
and the great guardian war-ships kept close 
watch. If any strange craft came in sight, a 
torpedo boat was sent darting away to discover 
whether or not the new-comer could by any 
possibility be a Spanish ship bent on mischief. 

In the evening, when the band played on 
deck, it was pleasant to watch the boats light 
up one after another, and to see the reflection 
glow more and more brightly in the darkening 
water, while the strange stars of the southern 
cross burned ever brighter in the black sky. 

On the morning of the twentieth all awoke 
to find land near. As they looked at the 
mountains of the Cuban coast looming high 
and dark across the water, they knew that 
Santiago was their destination. In the after- 

19 


290 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


noon they had a glimpse of Santiago Harbor 
and the great, grim, gray war-ships that were 
soon to play their brilliant part in the war. 

On June the twenty-second the order for 
landing the troops was given. The war-ships 
shelled the quiet little Spanish village, Daiquin, 
first, to drive away any Spaniards who might 
be lingering there. 

To land the men, horses, and provisions of 
an army in the poor harbor where the surf was 
heavy and the boats were few was a problem. 
But Colonel Roosevelt, always on the alert, 
displayed his usual push and promptness here. 

While others were still wondering what to 
do, he discovered an acquaintance, secured a 
pilot, got his transport well in toward the land, 
and his troops ashore. 

They camped that night on a brush-covered 
heath lying between a dense jungle and a 
shallow, palm-bordered pool. They had no 
tents and slept on the ground. But they felt 
less need of shelter then than on the following 
day, when they were obliged to make lodges 
of palm leaves to protect themselves from the 
tropical sun. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


29I 


VIII. 

IN CUBA. 

The Rough Riders were soon given a taste 
of fighting. Scarcely had they finished bring¬ 
ing the baggage to camp when they received 
the command to advance toward the Spanish 
outposts. 

Expecting resistance at Las Guasimas, where 
the enemy held a ridge at the meeting of the 
road and a hill trail, General Young divided 
his troops, sending one division forward over 
the road, and the other, in which the Rough 
Riders were included, by the trail. 

Now the Rough Riders had cause to wish 
for their horses. Their life in the saddle had 
not fitted them for long marches on foot. The 
tramp in the heat wearied them greatly. 
Nevertheless, the march was continued until 
long after dark, when at length the order to 
halt came. 

The men had hardly time to make their 
fires, boil their coffee, and fry their pork before 
a tropical rainstorm broke upon them. All— 
officers and men—were drenched. Fortu- 


292 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


nately, the rain did not last long. As soon as 
it had passed, fires were again kindled and the 
men gathered around them to dry their clothes 
as best they could before they lay down to 
sleep. 

At six o’clock the next day the Rough 
Riders were again on the march. Colonel 
Wood hurried them up a steep hill at a lively 
pace. Some were so foot-sore and exhausted 
that they were obliged to drop out of line. 
The haste was necessary, however, if the 
Rough Riders were to be on hand in time to 
take part in the engagement. 

After they reached the hilltop, where the 
breeze blew and the walking was more easy, 
the march became less trying. The country 
through which they passed was beautiful and 
strange, with hills and mountains, noble palms, 
and the gorgeous scarlet flower tree. 

The birds sang; the sky was a deep blue. 
Colonel Roosevelt says that he felt more as if 
he were going to hunt than to fight. But 
before long he was aware that this was no 
pleasure trip. 

Where the trail led through a dense jungle, 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


293 


bullets began to whizz over his head. Lieu¬ 
tenant-Colonel Roosevelt had for his superior 
officer on this day of his initiation in battle a 
commander after his own heart—his friend, 
Colonel Wood. Colonel Wood, while always 
careful to shield his men as much as possible, 
was himself so fearless that he gave the sol¬ 
diers courage. 

He was cool-headed and commanding, as 
well as brave. When the bullets began to 
strike the trees and the men began to dodge 
and swear, he ordered sharply, “ Stop swearing 
and shoot!” and they obeyed. The skirmish 
was an ugly one. An unseen enemy sent 
against the Rough Riders a hail of bullets. 

As the Spanish used smokeless powder, it 
was impossible to see from where the attack 
came. The trees were no protection, for the 
Mauser bullets cut their way straight through 
them. It was not only impossible to see the 
enemy, but in the jungle it was impossible for 
an officer to watch his own men or to know 
what action his fellow-officers were taking. 

Colonel Roosevelt would have given much 
to survey the field and so enable himself to 


294 THE 0D 0RE R 0 0SE VEL T - 

make an intelligent plan of attack. But he 
had to content himself with the simple com¬ 
mand, “ Forward !” The dead and wounded 
had to be left in the jungle. 

The thought that the brave fellows might 
become the prey of the great land-crabs and 
vultures was horrible to him, but he allowed 
no able-bodied man to linger in the rear. Set¬ 
ting an example of courage, he urged on the 
troops. 

The Spaniards fled before the combined 
attack of General Young and Colonel Wood, 
leaving the Americans in possession of the 
field and well on their way to Santiago. 
During the battle thirty-four Rough Riders 
were wounded and eight were killed. 

The experience he gained at Las Guasimas 
gave Lieutenant Roosevelt so much confidence 
in himself that when General Young became 
ill and his responsibilities fell upon Colonel 
Wood, Roosevelt was glad to take full com¬ 
mand of the regiment. 

On the twenty-fifth, camp was moved to a 
marshy flat on the bank of a river, and a brief 
but trying period of waiting followed. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 295 

The luggage was brought up from the coast, 
but the tents were small protection against the 
tropical downpours that deluged the camp 
nearly every afternoon. 

The weather was hot, and the food was not 
suited to the climate. While the supply of 
pork was always ample, the coffee always ran 
short, and no vegetables were provided. 

Colonel Roosevelt made up a pack train of 
mules and officers’ horses and went to the port, 
where, by dint of perseverance, persuasion, and 
commands, he succeeded in obtaining, at his 
own expense, a store of beans and canned 
tomatoes for the men of his regiment. 

On the thirtieth of June camp was again 
broken and the march toward Santiago was 
resumed. Marching was particularly hard for 
the Rough Riders. They were at the rear of 
the line, and had to accommodate their pace to 
that of the division in front of them. 

Whenever a halt was made, Colonel Roose¬ 
velt ordered his men to loosen their packs and 
lie down for a few moments’ rest. When the 
command to march came, all scrambled up and 
pressed forward with good will. The arrange- 


296 THE OD ORE R O OSE VEL T. 

ments for the night were little more elaborate 
than for these brief naps. The men slept on 
their arms, and were roused at dawn by the 
booming of cannon. 

The first hours of the conflict were hours 
of trial to Colonel Roosevelt. He had been 
ordered to lie in reserve, awaiting further 
orders. The place assigned him was open to 
the fire of the Spanish guns, and although he 
did his best to get his troops sheltered, every 
now and then a soldier was shot. 

The inaction and continual fear of being 
struck by the shells bursting overhead or 
plowing up the ground were telling on the 
nerves, courage, and spirits of the men. 

He requested his orderly to go in search of 
a general and ask permission to move into 
action as his regiment was being badly cut 
up. But the young fellow was shot as he 
rose to obey. 

After sending messenger after messenger in 
search of his general he made up his mind to 
act on his own responsibility, and “ march 
toward the guns ” ; but just at this moment 
the order came, “ Move forward and support 


THE OD ORE R 0 OSE VEL T. 297 

the regulars in the assault on the hills in 
front.” 

As Colonel Roosevelt says, his “ coveted 
hour” had come. He sprang upon his horse 
and rode about, trying to put some spirit into 
the men, for many of them were qualmish and 
afraid to rise. A bullet evidently intended for 
the mounted colonel struck a soldier who re¬ 
fused to rise, and, passing lengthwise through 
his body, killed him. 

When the men were on their feet and the 
ranks formed, he pushed his way from line to 
line, shouting, reprimanding, joking, until the 
momentary panic was over and the men were 
as eager for action and as fearless as their 
commander. 

When the Rough Riders had advanced to 
the place where the soldiers of the First Regi¬ 
ment of United States Infantry were lying 
exposed to a fire they could not return, 
Roosevelt rode up to one of the Captains in 
the rear and said, “ My orders are to support 
the regulars in the attack upon the hills. In 
my judgment we cannot take the hills by firing 
at them. We must rush them.” 


298 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


The Captain replied, “ My orders are to keep 
my men where they are. I cannot charge 
without orders.” “Then,” said Roosevelt, 
“ as your Colonel is not in sight, I am the 
ranking officer here, and I give the order to 
charge.” The Captain hesitated to accept 
orders contrary to those his own Colonel had 
given him. 

“Very well,” said Roosevelt, “if you are not 
willing to advance, you will kindly let my men 
through.” And he rode on through the lines, 
followed by the grinning Rough Riders, who 
had been listening to the dialogue with keen 
enjoyment. 

The regulars could not lie still and see the 
volunteers pass them, so, jumping to their feet, 
they joined the Rough Riders in their charge 
up the hill. 

At almost the same time other regiments 
started forward, and there was a general 
advance against the Spanish stronghold. 
Colonel Roosevelt rode, now along the lines 
to hurry on those in the rear, now at the head 
of the regiment, waving his hat and cheering 
on the men until, at length, coming to a wire 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 299 

fence, he was obliged to dismount and turn 
“Texas,” his horse, loose. Then, afoot, he 
rushed on up the hill. 

All was excitement. Every man’s one wish 
was to be the first to reach the top of the hill. 
The deadly fire from the Spanish could check 
the onward rush of those only who were actu¬ 
ally struck by a bullet. 

Having reached the crest of the hill, Roose¬ 
velt saw, at his left, the infantry climbing the 
hill to attack the San Juan block house. He 
set his sharpshooters to firing at the men in 
the trenches. The arrival of Lieutenant Par¬ 
ker with the Gatling guns was cheered by the 
Americans. 

As the infantry neared the top of the hill, 
the Spaniards took to their heels. Seeing this, 
Roosevelt shouted to his men, bidding them 
follow him, and started to charge the next line 
of entrenchments in front, from which the 
Spanish were sending a rapid and well- 
directed fire. 

He leaped over a wire fence and started up 
the hill at a run in the face of the fire. He 
ran a hundred yards before he discovered that 


300 THE 0 D ORE R 0 OSE VEL T 

he was followed by only five men. Two of 
these were shot, and he rushed back, sum¬ 
moning the Rough Riders and reprimanding 
them for not supporting him. 

In the excitement they had not heard or 
seen their colonel, but their attention once 
gained, they were eager to make up for their 
delinquency, and when he started across the 
field again, it was with a strong following. 
By bold dashes the Americans drove the 
Spanish from entrenchment to entrenchment 
until they reached the heights overlooking 
Santiago. 

Colonel Roosevelt found himself the rank¬ 
ing officer on the hill in the extreme front, 
and so in command of those soldiers of the 
six regiments that had kept pace with him. 
The exposed position in which they stood 
offered little shelter from the Spanish fire, but 
Roosevelt had no thought of retreating or of 
allowing any one else to do so. 

Seeing that the colored infantrymen who 
had been most courageous in the charge were 
getting nervous and drifting to the rear under 
pretense of finding their officers or helping the 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


301 


wounded, he drew his revolver, saying he 
would shoot the first man who went to the 
rear. He tells the story as follows: 

“ My own men had all sat up and were 
watching my movements with the utmost 
interest I ended my statements to the col¬ 
ored soldiers by saying: ‘ Now, I shall be very 
sorry to hurt you, and you don’t know whether 
or not I will keep my word, but my men will 
tell you that I always do,’ whereupon my cow- 
punchers, hunters, and miners solemnly nodded 
their heads and commented in chorus, exactly 
as if in comic opera, ‘ He always does; he 
always does.’ ” 

Later Colonel Roosevelt received orders not 
to advance, but to hold the hill at any cost. 
With only such food and blankets as they 
found in the Spanish camp they passed the 
night on the hill. 

Until midnight most of the men worked, 
throwing up trenches to shelter themselves 
from the fire in front. Then, completely ex¬ 
hausted, they slept in spite of cold and hunger. 

The officers fared no better than the soldiers, 
and these days of danger and hardship, shared 


302 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


together on San Juan Hill, did much to endear 
Colonel Roosevelt to his Rough Riders. 

The men vied with one another to contrib¬ 
ute to the comfort of the colonel who had 
shown himself ready to suffer every privation 
his men were called upon to endure. 

When offered a dollar a piece for hard tack, 
they would rather give any luxury that came 
into their possession to him than to sell or keep 
it. If a Rough Rider shot a guinea-hen, he 
insisted on Roosevelt accepting it, and would 
probably have been disappointed to learn that 
instead of eating it he sent it to the temporary 
hospital for the wounded. 

An ex-round-up cook who had found some 
flour and sugar in the Spanish camp sent his 
first batch of doughnuts to his colonel. 

When the truce came, Colonel Roosevelt 
again exerted his influence and spent his 
money to see that the vegetables provided 
only for the officers’ mess made a part of 
every soldier’s rations. 

He took pains also to get rice and appro¬ 
priate food for those suffering from wounds 
and illness. 


THE OD ORE R O OSE VELT. 303 

In spite of hardships, it was not without a 
sigh of regret that the Rough Riders reflected, 
as they saw the American flag raised over San¬ 
tiago, that fighting, in that neighborhood at 
least, was over. 

After the siege was ended the cavalry went 
into camp on the foot-hills west of El Caney. 
The region, though beautiful, proved to be 
unhealthy, and the soldiers suffered greatly 
from malaria, notwithstanding Colonel Roose¬ 
velt’s efforts to give them proper shelter and 
food. 

Seeing that the health of his men grew 
worse daily and that many must die if they 
continued where they were, Colonel Roose¬ 
velt earnestly recommended the removal of 
the troops to a cool place for the summer. 
His recommendation was supported by the 
approval of his fellow-officers, and an order 
was given to transport the troops to Long 
Island. 

When the Rough Riders left Cuba on the 
seventh of August, they expected to return to 
the islands in the fall, but they were greeted 
at Long Island with the intelligence that the 


304 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


war was over, and that peace negotiations had 
been begun. 

At Long Island the entire regiment of 
Rough Riders was united once more. Those 
who had been to the front were glad to meet 
their comrades. They were glad, too, to have 
their horses. The northern air was invigorat¬ 
ing, and with proper care most of the sick re¬ 
gained their health and strength. 

One Sunday, before the troops were dis¬ 
charged, Colonel Roosevelt rose after the 
Chaplain had finished his sermon and made 
a short address. He told the men how proud 
he was of them: extolled their bravery and 
endurance in generous and sincere terms, and 
gave them some wholesome advice. 

He reminded them that, however glorious 
their record was, the world would scarcely 
make heroes of them for more than ten days, 
and urged them to return to work and again 
become peaceful and useful citizens. 

A few days later he was called from his tent 
one bright afternoon to find his regiment 
drawn up in a hollow square with the officers 
in the middle. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


305 


As the colonel advanced with a questioning 
look, one of the troopers stepped quickly for¬ 
ward, and with words of gratitude and affec¬ 
tion, on behalf of the regiment, presented 
the colonel with Remington’s bronze, “ The 
Bronco-buster.” 

Colonel Roosevelt was deeply touched by 
this appropriate tribute. It was with deep 
feeling that he shook each manly fellow’s hand 
as all filed past to say good-by. 

His interest in the Rough Riders did not 
end with this farewell; he has since sought to 
know how each has taken up the duties of 
peace, and has contrived to help those who 
have suffered by reason of their four months’ 
service in the uniform of the United States 
Volunteers. 


IX. 

THE PRESIDENT. 

When Mr. Roosevelt returned from Cuba 
he was one of the heroes of the hour, and it 
is not surprising that with the record he had 
made in peace and in war he was honored by 
20 



3°6 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


his State with the highest office it could be¬ 
stow. In 1898 he was made Governor of New 
York. 

This position was one that suited him admir¬ 
ably, and it was with genuine reluctance that 
he accepted the nomination to the Vice-Presi¬ 
dency of the United States, made by the Re¬ 
publican Party in 1900. While he appreciated 
the honor, he gave up with regret the more 
active duties of his office at Albany. 

Having been elected Vice-President, how¬ 
ever, he made a most excellent one until called 
by the death of President McKinley to fill a 
higher place. 

When the news of the great calamity spread 
over the country, some questioned Mr. Roose¬ 
velt’s fitness for the office. Men who had per¬ 
fect confidence in his high purpose, his integ¬ 
rity, his business ability, and his nobility of 
character, feared he was too young, too inde¬ 
pendent of party and public opinion and coun¬ 
sel of any sort to assume power so vast and 
duties so delicate. 

But his conduct soon put to rest all such 
fears. On the fourteenth day of September, 


THE ODORE R OOSE VEL T. 307 

1901, he was summoned to Buffalo, where 
President McKinley lay dead. On the after¬ 
noon of that day, at the home of Mr. Wilcox, 
he was requested by the Secretary of War to 
take the oath of office. His inaugural address 
was brief, but it contained exactly what the 
people wished to hear. He said: 

“ I shall take the oath of office in obedience 
to your request, sir, and in doing so it shall be 
my aim to continue absolutely unbroken the 
policy of President McKinley, which has given 
peace, prosperity, and honor to our beloved 
country.” 

He further won the confidence of the pub¬ 
lic by requesting the members of President 
McKinley’s Cabinet to retain their positions. 

The new President filled the public eye. 
As a man, he pleased the American people 
both in his public and private life. Mrs. 
Roosevelt (Mr. Roosevelt married again not 
long after the death of his first wife) makes a 
much-admired hostess of the White House, 
and the large family of children give the dig¬ 
nified old place a pleasantly home-like atmo¬ 
sphere. 


308 THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 

In all social relations, from the simplest ones 
of home to those of a formal diplomatic char¬ 
acter, President Roosevelt is peculiarly genuine 
and ingratiating. Whether romping with his 
children at his summer home at Oyster Bay 
or entertaining a prince at Washington, he is 
every inch a man. 

In public affairs, although essentially carry¬ 
ing out the policy of President McKinley, 
Theodore Roosevelt could not fail to make 
his own strong personality felt in innumerable 
ways. 

He could never be classed among the “ timid 
good,” “who,” he says, “form a most useless 
as well as most despicable portion of the com¬ 
munity.” 

Fearless of criticism, anxious to make full 
and right use of the incidental as well as the 
official power of his position, he decided in the 
winter of 1902-1903 to do what he could to 
put an end to the great coal-strike that was 
causing wide-spread suffering. 

He invited the representatives of the striking 
miners and of the coal-mine owners to a con¬ 
ference. They were not bound to obey his 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 


309 


summons, but they could not well refuse to do 
so. The effect of his humane interference was 
to bring the strike to a close. 

He is broadly tolerant by nature and train¬ 
ing, and is quite quick to recognize worth out¬ 
side of the beaten paths. An educated man 
and an able and interesting writer, he is never 
a carping critic, but is generously appreciative 
of literary merit, and does not limit his praise 
to the work that is receiving the applause of 
the hour. 

Having found the red man a true and loyal 
guide in the western mountains, having seen 
the black man valiant under fire, he cannot 
understand the spirit of those who refuse to 
shake hands with a man unless his skin is 
white. 

While opposed to trusts, he refuses to favor 
labor unions in appointments to civil service. 
He realizes that he is the president of all 
classes of citizens, black and white, rich and 
poor. 

His sound sense, broad humanity, and per¬ 
fect impartiality have won confidence and made 
friends for him everywhere. 



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